The idea to engage Alliance Parliamentarians in collective deliberations on the problems confronting the transatlantic partnership first emerged in the early 1950s and took shape with the creation of an annual conference of NATO parliamentarians in 1955, the Assembly’s creation reflected a desire on the part of legislators to give substance to the premise of the Washington Treaty of 1949 (also known as the North Atlantic Treaty) that NATO was the practical expression of a fundamentally political transatlantic alliance of democracies.

The foundation for cooperation between NATO and the NATO-PA was strengthened in December 1967 when the North Atlantic Council (NAC) authorized the NATO Secretary General to study how to achieve closer cooperation between the two bodies, as a result of these deliberations over the following year, the NATO Secretary General, after consultation with the NAC, implemented several measures to enhance the working relationship between NATO and the Assembly. These measures included the Secretary General providing a response to all Assembly recommendations and resolutions adopted in its Plenary Sessions.

In response to the fall of the Berlin wall at the end of the 1980s, the NATO-PA broadened its mandate by developing close relations with political leaders in Central and East European countries, those ties, in turn, greatly facilitated the dialogue that NATO itself embarked upon with the region's governments.

Bringing together legislators from all the member states of the Atlantic Alliance, the NATO PA provides a link between NATO and the parliaments of its member nations.

At the same time, it facilitates parliamentary awareness and understanding of key security issues and contributes to a greater transparency of NATO policies. Crucially, it helps maintain and strengthen the transatlantic relationship, which underpins the Atlantic Alliance.

Since the end of the Cold War the Assembly has assumed a new role by integrating into its work parliamentarians from those countries in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond who seek a closer association with NATO, this integration has provided both political and practical assistance and has sought to contribute to the strengthening of parliamentary democracy throughout the Euro-Atlantic region, and complement and reinforce NATO’s own programme of partnership and co-operation.

The Assembly was directly concerned with assisting in the process of ratification of the Protocols of Accession signed at the end of 1997, which culminated in the accession of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland to the Alliance in March 1999, it played the same role with respect to the ratification process leading to the accession of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia in March 2004.

The NATO PA consists of 257 delegates from the 28 NATO member countries.[2] Delegates from 13 associate countries; the European Parliament; 4 regional partner and Mediterranean associate member countries; as well as parliamentary observers from 8 other parliaments; 3 inter-parliamentary assemblies also take part in its activities.

Delegates to the Assembly are nominated by their parliaments according to their national procedures, on the basis of party representation in the parliaments, the Assembly therefore represents a broad spectrum of political opinion.

The Assembly’s governing body is the Standing Committee, which is composed of the Head of each member delegation, the President, the Vice-Presidents, the Treasurer and the Secretary General.[3]

The International Secretariat, under its Secretary General, is responsible for all administration and the bulk of research and analysis that supports the Assembly’s Committees, Sub-Committees and other groups.

The headquarters of the Assembly’s 28-strong International Secretariat is located in central Brussels.

The Assembly is directly funded by member parliaments and governments, and is financially and administratively separate from NATO itself, each country’s contribution is based on the NATO Civil Budget formula.

The five Committees are: Civil Dimension of Security; Defence and Security; Economics and Security; Political; Science and Technology. They are charged with examining all major contemporary issues in their fields.

The Committees and Sub-Committees produce reports, which are discussed in draft form at the Assembly’s Spring Session, the reports are then revised and up-dated for discussion, amendment and adoption at the Assembly’s Annual Session in the Autumn.

At the Annual Session, the Committees also produce policy recommendations - which are voted on by the full Assembly and forwarded to the North Atlantic Council and the NATO Secretary General and posted on the Assembly's website, the NATO Secretary General responds in writing to the Assembly's recommendations.

Members of the Assembly's Committees undertake regular visits and meetings where they receive briefings from leading government and parliamentary representatives, as well as senior academics and experts. NATO-PA Delegations also undertake visits to NATO mission areas such as Afghanistan and the Balkans.

Other Assembly bodies include the Mediterranean and Middle East Special Group to enhance parliamentary dialogue and understanding with countries of the Middle East and the North African region, the Ukraine-NATO Interparliamentary Council, and the NATO-Georgia Interparliamentary Council, the NATO-Russia Parliamentary Committee was discontinued in April 2014 following Russia's military intervention in Ukraine and illegal annexation of Crimea.

The Rose-Roth Programme of partnership and co-operation is designed to extend assistance to countries undergoing transition through difficult political and economic reforms, the program was initially designed to support Central and Eastern European countries but has subsequently focused mainly on the Balkans and the South Caucasus.

Under this Programme, every year two to three Rose-Roth seminars are organized in a non-NATO country in partnership with the host nation parliament, these events, attended by members of parliament from member and partner states as well as independent experts, focus on regional and topical security issues. Along with additional training programmes for parliamentary staff and members of parliament, these events emphasize issues such as effective parliamentary oversight of defence and the military.

The NATO Orientation programme is focused primarily on young or newly elected members of parliament from NATO and Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) nations, as well as those newly assigned to security or foreign affairs responsibilities. The programme aims at providing an in-depth overview of the functioning and policies of NATO and SHAPE as well as of the Alliance’s evolving relationships with its many partners, the Programme was launched in 2000 and is held annually in Brussels.

In 2001, growing concern about the apparent drift in transatlantic attitudes, perceptions and policies, the Assembly launched an annual "Parliamentary Transatlantic Forum" which brings together members of the Assembly with senior US administration figures and academic experts, the Forum is held annually in Washington DC in co-operation with the U.S. National Defense University and the Atlantic Council of the United States.

There is no formal link between the NATO-PA and NATO although there is long history of cooperation that has intensified in the post–Cold War era.

The Assembly's Standing Committee meets annually with both the Secretary General and the Permanent Representatives to the North Atlantic Council at NATO Headquarters to exchange views on the state of the Alliance and to provide the perspectives of legislators, the Secretary General participates in the spring and autumn sessions of the Assembly as well as other special activities; he also provides a written response to the recommendations passed by the Assembly at its autumn session. The Assembly’s Presidents, in turn, participate in Summit meetings of the Alliance.

Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) and other senior military officials in the NATO chain of command also regularly meet with Assembly members in various formats.

Expanding on the relationship the Assembly had developed with parliaments in Russia and Ukraine at the end of the Cold War, the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security between the Russian Federation and NATO, signed in May 1997, and the NATO-Ukraine Charter signed in July 1997, explicitly charged the Assembly with expanding its dialogue and cooperation with both the Russian Federal Assembly and the Ukrainian Rada.[4][5] Relations with the Russian Federal Parliament were reappraised entirely following Russia's perceived military intervention in Ukraine and annexation of Crimea.

The Assembly also created a bilateral group with the Georgian Parliament in 2009 to support Georgia's integration into Euro-Atlantic structures.

Mirroring the creation in May 2002 of the NATO-Russia Council, a major step forward in NATO's cooperation with Russia, the Assembly created the NATO-Russia parliamentary Committee (NRPC), until it was discontinued in April 2014, the NATO-Russia Parliamentary Committee met twice a year during each of the Assembly’s sessions in an “at 29” format and had become the main framework for direct NATO-Russia parliamentary relations. It consisted of the leaders of the Assembly’s 28 member delegations and the leaders of the Russian delegation to the Assembly; in addition to the dialogue held within this the Committee, a 10-person delegation of the Russian Federal Assembly participated in the Assembly's Plenary Sessions as well as in many Assembly Committee and Sub-Committee meetings and seminars. In April 2014, the NATO PA decided to withdraw the Russian Parliament's associate membership of the Assembly, thus effectively ending regular institutional relations with the Russian Parliament.

In 2002, the Assembly also decided to upgrade its special relationship with Ukraine by creating the Ukraine-NATO Interparliamentary Council (UNIC), the Assembly's cooperation with the Verkhovna Rada was progressively strengthened in the run-up to the Ukrainian Presidential elections in 2004. Members of the NATO-PA were involved in election monitoring, supporting the international community's effort.

The Ukraine-NATO Interparliamentary Council (UNIC) monitors NATO’s relationship with Ukraine, paying particular attention to the parliamentary aspects of Ukraine’s defence and political reform; in addition to the UNIC meetings biannually held in both Brussels and Kyiv, there is usually one Committee or Sub-Committee visit to Kiev each year.

In 2009, the Assembly approved the creation of a Georgia-NATO inter-parliamentary council, the Georgia-NATO Interparliamentary Council is composed of the Assembly's Bureau (President, Vice-Presidents and Treasurer) and the 4-member Georgian delegation to the NATO PA. The Group meets twice a year to discuss all aspects of Georgia-NATO cooperation and coordinate Assembly activities related to Georgia.

The Assembly created in 1995 a Mediterranean Special Group with the aim of opening a political dialogue with legislators from countries of the Middle East and North Africa, the programme gradually expanded and the Assembly has now established relations at various levels with many parliaments across the Mediterranean, Northern and Central Africa, and the Middle East.

The Group meets three times a year either in NATO member countries or in the region, these meetings seek to enhance parliamentary awareness of the problems of the region, promote a political dialogue between parliamentarians, and share best practices among members of the respective parliaments.

^"Recognizing the importance of deepening contacts between the legislative bodies of the participating States to this Act, NATO and Russia will also encourage expanded dialogue and cooperation between the North Atlantic Assembly and the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation." http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_25468.htm

1.
Belgium
–
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie

2.
Sverre Myrli
–
Sverre Myrli is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. During the cabinet Jagland he was appointed advisor in the Ministry of Transport. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Akershus in 1997, during the period as a deputy he completed a bachelors degree at the Oslo University College. Myrli was a member of Nes municipality council from 1991 to 1997 and 2003 to 2007, during the first period he was also a member of Akershus county council

Sverre Myrli
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Sverre Myrli

3.
NATO
–
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party, three NATO members are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and are officially nuclear-weapon states. NATOs headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons. NATO is an Alliance that consists of 28 independent member countries across North America and Europe, an additional 22 countries participate in NATOs Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the global total, Members defence spending is supposed to amount to 2% of GDP. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, politically, the organization sought better relations with former Warsaw Pact countries, several of which joined the alliance in 1999 and 2004. N. The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, the treaty and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Unions Defence Organization in September 1948. However, participation of the United States was thought necessary both to counter the power of the USSR and to prevent the revival of nationalist militarism. He got a hearing, especially considering American anxiety over Italy. In 1948 European leaders met with U. S. defense, military and diplomatic officials at the Pentagon, marshalls orders, exploring a framework for a new and unprecedented association. Talks for a new military alliance resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty and it included the five Treaty of Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the goal was to keep the Russians out, the Americans in. Popular support for the Treaty was not unanimous, and some Icelanders participated in a pro-neutrality, the creation of NATO can be seen as the primary institutional consequence of a school of thought called Atlanticism which stressed the importance of trans-Atlantic cooperation. The members agreed that an attack against any one of them in Europe or North America would be considered an attack against them all. The treaty does not require members to respond with military action against an aggressor, although obliged to respond, they maintain the freedom to choose the method by which they do so. This differs from Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels, which states that the response will be military in nature. It is nonetheless assumed that NATO members will aid the attacked member militarily, the treaty was later clarified to include both the members territory and their vessels, forces or aircraft above the Tropic of Cancer, including some Overseas departments of France. The creation of NATO brought about some standardization of allied military terminology, procedures, and technology, the roughly 1300 Standardization Agreements codified many of the common practices that NATO has achieved

NATO
–
The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949 and was ratified by the United States that August.
NATO
–
Flag
NATO
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The German Bundeswehr provided the largest element of the allied land forces guarding the frontier in Central Europe.
NATO
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Reforms made under Mikhail Gorbachev led to the end of the Warsaw Pact.

4.
North Atlantic Alliance
–
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party, three NATO members are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and are officially nuclear-weapon states. NATOs headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons. NATO is an Alliance that consists of 28 independent member countries across North America and Europe, an additional 22 countries participate in NATOs Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the global total, Members defence spending is supposed to amount to 2% of GDP. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, politically, the organization sought better relations with former Warsaw Pact countries, several of which joined the alliance in 1999 and 2004. N. The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, the treaty and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Unions Defence Organization in September 1948. However, participation of the United States was thought necessary both to counter the power of the USSR and to prevent the revival of nationalist militarism. He got a hearing, especially considering American anxiety over Italy. In 1948 European leaders met with U. S. defense, military and diplomatic officials at the Pentagon, marshalls orders, exploring a framework for a new and unprecedented association. Talks for a new military alliance resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty and it included the five Treaty of Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the goal was to keep the Russians out, the Americans in. Popular support for the Treaty was not unanimous, and some Icelanders participated in a pro-neutrality, the creation of NATO can be seen as the primary institutional consequence of a school of thought called Atlanticism which stressed the importance of trans-Atlantic cooperation. The members agreed that an attack against any one of them in Europe or North America would be considered an attack against them all. The treaty does not require members to respond with military action against an aggressor, although obliged to respond, they maintain the freedom to choose the method by which they do so. This differs from Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels, which states that the response will be military in nature. It is nonetheless assumed that NATO members will aid the attacked member militarily, the treaty was later clarified to include both the members territory and their vessels, forces or aircraft above the Tropic of Cancer, including some Overseas departments of France. The creation of NATO brought about some standardization of allied military terminology, procedures, and technology, the roughly 1300 Standardization Agreements codified many of the common practices that NATO has achieved

North Atlantic Alliance
–
The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949 and was ratified by the United States that August.
North Atlantic Alliance
–
Flag
North Atlantic Alliance
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The German Bundeswehr provided the largest element of the allied land forces guarding the frontier in Central Europe.
North Atlantic Alliance
–
Reforms made under Mikhail Gorbachev led to the end of the Warsaw Pact.

5.
North Atlantic Council
–
The North Atlantic Council is the principal political decision-making body of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, consisting of Permanent Representatives from its member countries. It was established by Article 9 of the North Atlantic Treaty, the North Atlantic Treaty gave the NAC the power to set up subsidiary bodies for various policy functions, including a defense committee to implement other parts of the treaty. Since 1952, the NAC has been in permanent session, the NAC can be held at the Permanent Representative Level, or can be composed of member states Ministers of State, Defense, or Heads of Government. The NAC has the same regardless of the formation it meets under. The NAC meets twice a week, every Tuesday, for an informal lunch discussion, usually, meetings occur amongst the Permanent Representatives who are the senior permanent member of each delegation and is generally a senior civil servant or an experienced ambassador. The list of Permanent Representatives may be found on the NATO website, the 28 members of NATO have diplomatic missions to the organization through embassies in Belgium. The meetings of the NAC are chaired by the Secretary General and, there is no voting or decision by majority. Each nation represented at the NAC table or on any of its subordinate committees retains complete sovereignty and responsibility for its own decisions

North Atlantic Council
North Atlantic Council
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North Atlantic Council Conseil de l'Atlantique Nord

6.
Central and Eastern Europe
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It is in use after the collapse of the Iron Curtain in 1989–90. In scholarly literature the abbreviations CEE or CEEC are often used for this concept, the transition countries in Europe are thus classified today into two political-economic entities, CEE and CIS. According to the World Bank, the transition is over for the 10 countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 and it can be also understood as all countries of the Eastern Bloc. The definition of this varies, depending on the source. Central Europe Central and Eastern European Online Library East-Central Europe Eastern Europe Regions of Europe Baltic states Visegrád Group

7.
2014 Newport summit
–
Such summits are sporadically held, and allow leaders and officials from NATO member states to discuss current issues of mutual concern and to plan strategic activities going forward. The 2014 summit has been described by Admiral James Stavridis as the most important since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the summit was hosted by British Prime Minister David Cameron. There were another 180 VIPs, and 4,000 delegates, the entrance to the venue was fronted by a full-scale replica of a Eurofighter Typhoon. World leaders met at the Celtic Manor, and informally at other locales in and they discussed ongoing events in the world, such as terrorism, cyber warfare, and other areas of national security interest to the member states. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had a joint discussion with EU big four leaders and US President Barack Obama before the start of the Summit. The leaders of NATOs member states reaffirmed their pledge to spend the equivalent of at least 2% of their gross domestic products on defense, for countries which spend less than 2% they agreed upon that these countries aim to move towards the 2% guideline within a decade. In 2015, five of its 28 members met that goal, stützle said that the Russian Federation was not a military threat to NATO but criticized that new NATO members policies were not détente and negotiation with the Russian Federation. Protests, demonstrations and marches took place in Newport and Cardiff involving several hundred people, in both Newport and Cardiff, road closures and security measures, starting weeks in advance of the summit, created widespread disruption. Thirteen miles of security fencing,2.7 m high, was erected around the Newport hotel venue and ten miles of fencing put up around Cardiff city centre, businesses in the vicinity of security fencing in Cardiff reported a drop in trade by up to a third. This fencing was based on, and expanded, the National Barrier Asset which is held in reserve for similar events. Security included around 9,500 police officers patrolling the streets of the two cities, military helicopters including US Osprey V22s and the Royal Navy’s new £1bn Type 45 destroyer HMS Duncan

8.
European Parliament
–
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union. Together with the Council of the European Union and the European Commission, the Parliament is composed of 751 members, who represent the second-largest democratic electorate in the world and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world. It has been elected every five years by universal suffrage since 1979. However, voter turnout at European Parliament elections has fallen consecutively at each election since that date, voter turnout in 2014 stood at 42. 54% of all European voters. The Parliament is the first institution of the EU, and shares equal legislative and it likewise has equal control over the EU budget. Finally, the European Commission, the body of the EU, is accountable to Parliament. In particular, Parliament elects the President of the Commission, and it can subsequently force the Commission as a body to resign by adopting a motion of censure. The President of the European Parliament is Antonio Tajani, elected in January 2017 and he presides over a multi-party chamber, the two largest groups being the Group of the European Peoples Party and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. The last union-wide elections were the 2014 elections, the European Parliament has three places of work – Brussels, the city of Luxembourg and Strasbourg. Luxembourg is home to the administrative offices, meetings of the whole Parliament take place in Strasbourg and in Brussels. Committee meetings are held in Brussels, the Parliament, like the other institutions, was not designed in its current form when it first met on 10 September 1952. One of the oldest common institutions, it began as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and it was a consultative assembly of 78 appointed parliamentarians drawn from the national parliaments of member states, having no legislative powers. Its development since its foundation shows how the European Unions structures have evolved without a master plan. Some, such as Tom Reid of the Washington Post, said of the union, nobody would have designed a government as complex. Even the Parliaments two seats, which have switched several times, are a result of various agreements or lack of agreements, the body was not mentioned in the original Schuman Declaration. It was assumed or hoped that difficulties with the British would be resolved to allow the Council of Europes Assembly to perform the task, a separate Assembly was introduced during negotiations on the Treaty as an institution which would counterbalance and monitor the executive while providing democratic legitimacy. The wording of the ECSC Treaty demonstrated the desire for more than a normal consultative assembly by using the term representatives of the people. Its early importance was highlighted when the Assembly was given the task of drawing up the treaty to establish a European Political Community

European Parliament
European Parliament
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European Parliament
European Parliament
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Session of the Council of Europe's Assembly in the former House of Europe in Strasbourg in January 1967
European Parliament
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Palace of Europe, Parliament's Strasbourg hemicycle until 1999

9.
Brussels
–
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the region of Flanders or Wallonia. The region has a population of 1.2 million and an area with a population of over 1.8 million. Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions, the secretariat of the Benelux and the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are also located in Brussels. Today, it is considered an Alpha global city, historically a Dutch-speaking city, Brussels has seen a language shift to French from the late 19th century onwards. Today, the majority language is French, and the Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. All road signs, street names, and many advertisements and services are shown in both languages, Brussels is increasingly becoming multilingual with increasing numbers of migrants, expatriates and minority groups speaking their own languages. The most common theory of the origin of Brussels name is that it derives from the Old Dutch Broekzele or Broeksel, meaning marsh, Saint Vindicianus, the bishop of Cambrai made the first recorded reference to the place Brosella in 695 when it was still a hamlet. The origin of the settlement that was to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580. The official founding of Brussels is usually situated around 979, when Duke Charles of Lower Lotharingia transferred the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gaugericus chapel, Charles would construct the first permanent fortification in the city, doing so on that same island. Lambert I of Leuven, Count of Leuven gained the County of Brussels around 1000 by marrying Charles daughter, as it grew to a population of around 30,000, the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. The Counts of Leuven became Dukes of Brabant at about this time, in the 13th century, the city got its first walls. After the construction of the city walls in the early 13th century, to let the city expand, a second set of walls was erected between 1356 and 1383. Today, traces of it can still be seen, mostly because the small ring, Brabant had lost its independence, but Brussels became the Princely Capital of the prosperous Low Countries, and flourished. In 1516 Charles V, who had been heir of the Low Countries since 1506, was declared King of Spain in St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. Upon the death of his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 and it was in the Palace complex at Coudenberg that Charles V abdicated in 1555. This impressive palace, famous all over Europe, had expanded since it had first become the seat of the Dukes of Brabant. In 1695, during the Nine Years War, King Louis XIV of France sent troops to bombard Brussels with artillery, together with the resulting fire, it was the most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels

10.
NATO Secretary General
–
The Secretary General of NATO is an international diplomat who serves as the chief civil servant of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. However, the Secretary General does not have any command role. Together with the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee and the Supreme Allied Commander the Secretary General is one of the foremost officials of NATO, the current Secretary General is Jens Stoltenberg, the former Prime Minister of Norway, who took office on 1 October 2014. Article 9 of the North Atlantic Treaty requires NATO members to establish a Council, accordingly, the North Atlantic Council was formed. Initially the Council consisted of NATO members foreign ministers and met annually, in May 1950, the desire for closer coordination on a day-to-day basis led to the appointment of Council deputies, permanently based in London and overseeing the workings of the organization. Deputies were given full decision-making authority within the North Atlantic Council, the Chairman of the deputies was given responsibility for directing the organization and its work, including all of its civilian agencies. The Council deputies met for the first time on July 25,1950, and selected Charles Spofford, several important organisational changes quickly followed the establishment of Council deputies, most notably the establishment of a unified military command under a single Supreme Allied Commander. This unification and the challenges facing NATO led to rapid growth in the institutions of the organisation and in 1951, NATO was reorganized to streamline. As the authority of the increased, and the size of the organization grew, NATO established the Temporary Council Committee. This group established an official secretariat in Paris to command NATOs bureaucracy, after the Lisbon Conference, the NATO states began looking for a person who could fill the role of Secretary General. The position was first offered to Oliver Franks, the British Ambassador to the United States, unlike later Secretaries General who served as Chairman of the North Atlantic Council, Ismay was made the Vice Chairman of the Council, with Spofford continuing to serve as chairman. Ismay was selected because of his rank in the war. As both a soldier and a diplomat, he was considered qualified for the position. Several months later, after Spofford retired from the NATO, the structure of the North Atlantic Council was changed slightly, Ismay served as Secretary General until retiring in May,1957. After Ismay, Paul-Henri Spaak, a diplomat and former Prime Minister of Belgium was selected as the second Secretary General. Unlike Ismay, Spaak had no experience, so his appointment represented a deemphasis of the strictly military side of the Atlantic Alliance. When confirming Spaaks appointment in December 1956 during a session of the NATO foreign ministers, the NATO Secretary General chairs several of the senior decision-making bodies of NATO. In addition to the North Atlantic Council, he chairs the Defence Planning Committee, in a second role, the Secretary General leads the staff of NATO

11.
Afghanistan
–
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia. It has a population of approximately 32 million, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north and its territory covers 652,000 km2, making it the 41st largest country in the world. The land also served as the source from which the Kushans, Hephthalites, Samanids, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Khiljis, Mughals, Hotaks, Durranis, the political history of the modern state of Afghanistan began with the Hotak and Durrani dynasties in the 18th century. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a state in the Great Game between British India and the Russian Empire. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, King Amanullah unsuccessfully attempted to modernize the country and it remained peaceful during Zahir Shahs forty years of monarchy. A series of coups in the 1970s was followed by a series of wars that devastated much of Afghanistan. The name Afghānistān is believed to be as old as the ethnonym Afghan, the root name Afghan was used historically in reference to a member of the ethnic Pashtuns, and the suffix -stan means place of in Persian. Therefore, Afghanistan translates to land of the Afghans or, more specifically in a historical sense, however, the modern Constitution of Afghanistan states that he word Afghan shall apply to every citizen of Afghanistan. An important site of historical activities, many believe that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites. The country sits at a unique nexus point where numerous civilizations have interacted and it has been home to various peoples through the ages, among them the ancient Iranian peoples who established the dominant role of Indo-Iranian languages in the region. At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, and the Islamic Empire. Archaeological exploration done in the 20th century suggests that the area of Afghanistan has been closely connected by culture and trade with its neighbors to the east, west. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, urban civilization is believed to have begun as early as 3000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization. More recent findings established that the Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up towards modern-day Afghanistan, making the ancient civilisation today part of Pakistan, Afghanistan, in more detail, it extended from what today is northwest Pakistan to northwest India and northeast Afghanistan. An Indus Valley site has found on the Oxus River at Shortugai in northern Afghanistan. There are several smaller IVC colonies to be found in Afghanistan as well, after 2000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia began moving south into Afghanistan, among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians. These tribes later migrated further into South Asia, Western Asia, the region at the time was referred to as Ariana

12.
Balkans
–
The Balkan Peninsula, or the Balkans, is a peninsula and a cultural area in Eastern and Southeastern Europe with various and disputed borders. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch from the Serbia-Bulgaria border to the Black Sea, the highest point of the Balkans is Mount Musala 2,925 metres in the Rila mountain range. In Turkish, Balkan means a chain of wooded mountains, the name is still preserved in Central Asia with the Balkan Daglary and the Balkan Province of Turkmenistan. A less popular hypothesis regarding its etymology is that it derived from the Persian Balā-Khāna, from Antiquity through the Middle Ages, the Balkan Mountains had been called by the local Thracian name Haemus. According to Greek mythology, the Thracian king Haemus was turned into a mountain by Zeus as a punishment, a reverse name scheme has also been suggested. D. Dechev considers that Haemus is derived from a Thracian word *saimon, a third possibility is that Haemus derives from the Greek word haema meaning blood. The myth relates to a fight between Zeus and the monster/titan Typhon, Zeus injured Typhon with a thunder bolt and Typhons blood fell on the mountains, from which they got their name. The earliest mention of the name appears in an early 14th-century Arab map, the Ottomans first mention it in a document dated from 1565. There has been no other documented usage of the word to refer to the region before that, there is also a claim about an earlier Bulgar Turkic origin of the word popular in Bulgaria, however it is only an unscholarly assertion. The word was used by the Ottomans in Rumelia in its meaning of mountain, as in Kod̲j̲a-Balkan, Čatal-Balkan, and Ungurus-Balkani̊. The concept of the Balkans was created by the German geographer August Zeune in 1808, during the 1820s, Balkan became the preferred although not yet exclusive term alongside Haemus among British travelers. Among Russian travelers not so burdened by classical toponymy, Balkan was the preferred term, zeunes goal was to have a geographical parallel term to the Italic and Iberian Peninsula, and seemingly nothing more. The gradually acquired political connotations are newer and, to a large extent, after the dissolution of Yugoslavia beginning in June 1991, the term Balkans again received a negative meaning, especially in Croatia and Slovenia, even in casual usage. A European Union initiative of 1999 is called the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, and its northern boundary is often given as the Danube, Sava and Kupa Rivers. The Balkan Peninsula has an area of about 470,000 km2. It is more or less identical to the known as Southeastern Europe. As of 1920 until World War II, Italy included Istria, the current territory of Italy includes only the small area around Trieste inside the Balkan Peninsula. However, the regions of Trieste and Istria are not usually considered part of the Balkans by Italian geographers, the Western Balkans is a neologism coined to describe the countries of ex-Yugoslavia and Albania

Balkans
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The Balkan Peninsula, as defined by the Danube - Sava - Kupa line
Balkans
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The Peninsula's most extensive definition, bordered by water on three sides and connected with a line on the fourth
Balkans
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Panorama of Stara Planina. Its highest peak is Botev at a height of 2,376 m.
Balkans
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View toward Rila, the highest mountain in the Balkans which reaches 2925 m

13.
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
–
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe is the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organizations Allied Command Operations. Since 1967 it has been located at Casteau, north of the Belgian city of Mons, from 1951 to 2003, SHAPE was the headquarters of Allied Command Europe, ACE. Since 2003 it has been the headquarters of Allied Command Operations, SHAPE retained its traditional name with reference to Europe for legal reasons although the geographical scope of its activities was extended in 2003. At that time, NATOs command in Lisbon, historically part of the Atlantic command, was reassigned to ACO, an integrated military structure for NATO was first established after the Korean War raised questions over the strength of Europes defences against a Soviet attack. The first choice for commander in Europe was American General of the Army Dwight D, on December 19,1950, the North Atlantic Council announced the appointment of General Eisenhower as the first SACEUR. British Field Marshal Sir Bernard L, montgomery moved over from the predecessor Western Union Defence Organization to become the first Deputy SACEUR, who would serve until 1958. In establishing the command, the first NATO planners drew extensively on WUDO plans, General Eisenhower arrived in Paris on January 1,1951, and quickly set to work with a small group of planners to devise a structure for the new European command. The Planning Group worked in the Hotel Astoria in central Paris while construction of a permanent facility began at Rocquencourt, just west of the city, devising command arrangements in the Central Region, which contained the bulk of NATO’s forces, proved to be much more complicated. Drawing upon his World War II experience, General Eisenhower decided to retain overall control himself, instead there would be three separate C-in-Cs. In December 1950 it was announced that the forces initially to come under General Eisenhowers command were to be the U. S, on April 2,1951, General Eisenhower signed the activation order for Allied Command Europe and its headquarters at SHAPE. Headquarters, Allied Forces Central Europe was activated in Fontainebleau, France in 1953, on the same day, ACEs subordinate headquarters in Northern and Central Europe were activated, with the Southern Region following in June. By 1954 ACEs forces consisted of Allied Forces Northern Europe, at Oslo, Allied Forces Central Europe, Allied Forces Southern Europe, hodes, United States Army Allied Forces Southern Europe – Admiral R. P. M. Two 1952 central region exercises involved air-ground combined forces, equinox was a major air-ground exercise involving French-American tactical air units and a French airborne infantry unit under the command of Général dArmée Alphonse Juin, French Army. They maneuvered east of the Rhine River in the British Zone under the command of Lt. General Sir Richard Nelson Gale. Finally, Rosebud involved ground maneuvers by the U. S, seventh Army in the American Zone of Occupation of Allied-occupied Germany. The initial plans saw the defence of Western Europe from a Soviet invasion resting heavily on nuclear weapons, the conventional forces would attempt to hold this line while the allied strategic air forces defeated the Soviets and their allies by destroying their economy and infrastructure. What this strategy meant for the battle in the central region was described for publicity purposes in January 1954 by then-Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Alfred Gruenther as. An air-ground shield which, although still not strong enough, would force an enemy to concentrate prior to attack, in doing so, the concentrating force would be extremely vulnerable to losses from atomic weapon attacks

Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
–
The greater coat of arms of SHAPE, featuring the flags of the member states as supporters
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
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Organisation of ACE in 1952
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
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Main building at SHAPE
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
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Not to be confused with Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force.

14.
National Defense University
–
It is chartered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with Major General Frederick M. Padilla, USMC, as president. It is located on the grounds of Fort Lesley McNair in Washington, the universitys mission is to support the joint warfighter by providing rigorous Joint Professional Military Education to members of the U. S. Armed Forces and select interagency civilians in order to develop leaders that have the ability to operate and creatively think in an unpredictable, the schools masters program is a one-year intensive study program. Before 1946, the U. S. military relied on specially-created programs to meet specific needs and they also made use of smaller training programs elsewhere. The closer integration of forces and increasing complexity of strategy and technology necessitated the foundation of The National War College. To better integrate all the programs, Congress created the National Defense University in 1976. In 1981, the Joint Forces Staff College was created, followed by the Department of Defense Computer Institute in 1982, in 1984 the university created the Institute for National Strategic Studies to meet the demand for military research. After the Goldwater-Nichols Act and the House Armed Services Committee Skelton Panel Report, the university is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. Official website National Defense University publications on the Internet Archive

National Defense University
–
National Defense University emblem

15.
Supreme Allied Commander Europe
–
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe is the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organizations Allied Command Operations. Since 1967 it has been located at Casteau, north of the Belgian city of Mons, from 1951 to 2003, SHAPE was the headquarters of Allied Command Europe, ACE. Since 2003 it has been the headquarters of Allied Command Operations, SHAPE retained its traditional name with reference to Europe for legal reasons although the geographical scope of its activities was extended in 2003. At that time, NATOs command in Lisbon, historically part of the Atlantic command, was reassigned to ACO, an integrated military structure for NATO was first established after the Korean War raised questions over the strength of Europes defences against a Soviet attack. The first choice for commander in Europe was American General of the Army Dwight D, on December 19,1950, the North Atlantic Council announced the appointment of General Eisenhower as the first SACEUR. British Field Marshal Sir Bernard L, montgomery moved over from the predecessor Western Union Defence Organization to become the first Deputy SACEUR, who would serve until 1958. In establishing the command, the first NATO planners drew extensively on WUDO plans, General Eisenhower arrived in Paris on January 1,1951, and quickly set to work with a small group of planners to devise a structure for the new European command. The Planning Group worked in the Hotel Astoria in central Paris while construction of a permanent facility began at Rocquencourt, just west of the city, devising command arrangements in the Central Region, which contained the bulk of NATO’s forces, proved to be much more complicated. Drawing upon his World War II experience, General Eisenhower decided to retain overall control himself, instead there would be three separate C-in-Cs. In December 1950 it was announced that the forces initially to come under General Eisenhowers command were to be the U. S, on April 2,1951, General Eisenhower signed the activation order for Allied Command Europe and its headquarters at SHAPE. Headquarters, Allied Forces Central Europe was activated in Fontainebleau, France in 1953, on the same day, ACEs subordinate headquarters in Northern and Central Europe were activated, with the Southern Region following in June. By 1954 ACEs forces consisted of Allied Forces Northern Europe, at Oslo, Allied Forces Central Europe, Allied Forces Southern Europe, hodes, United States Army Allied Forces Southern Europe – Admiral R. P. M. Two 1952 central region exercises involved air-ground combined forces, equinox was a major air-ground exercise involving French-American tactical air units and a French airborne infantry unit under the command of Général dArmée Alphonse Juin, French Army. They maneuvered east of the Rhine River in the British Zone under the command of Lt. General Sir Richard Nelson Gale. Finally, Rosebud involved ground maneuvers by the U. S, seventh Army in the American Zone of Occupation of Allied-occupied Germany. The initial plans saw the defence of Western Europe from a Soviet invasion resting heavily on nuclear weapons, the conventional forces would attempt to hold this line while the allied strategic air forces defeated the Soviets and their allies by destroying their economy and infrastructure. What this strategy meant for the battle in the central region was described for publicity purposes in January 1954 by then-Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Alfred Gruenther as. An air-ground shield which, although still not strong enough, would force an enemy to concentrate prior to attack, in doing so, the concentrating force would be extremely vulnerable to losses from atomic weapon attacks

Supreme Allied Commander Europe
–
The greater coat of arms of SHAPE, featuring the flags of the member states as supporters
Supreme Allied Commander Europe
–
Organisation of ACE in 1952
Supreme Allied Commander Europe
–
Main building at SHAPE
Supreme Allied Commander Europe
–
Not to be confused with Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force.

16.
Verkhovna Rada
–
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the unicameral parliament of Ukraine. The Verkhovna Rada is composed of 450 deputies, who are presided over by a chairman, the Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovna Rada building in Ukraines capital Kiev. The current parliament is the eighth convocation, in elections to the Verkhovna Rada, a mixed voting system is used. 50% of seats are distributed under party lists with a 5% election threshold, the method of 50/50 mixed elections was used in the 2002 and 2012 elections, however, in 2006 and 2007, the elections were held under a proportional system only. The name Rada means council, rede and it originated in Kievan Rus, and then represented a boyar and higher clergy council. It was also used by Dnieper Cossacks in the 17th and 18th centuries for the meetings where major decisions were made and this name was later used by the Ukrainian Peoples Republic between March 17,1917 and April 29,1918. As well as West Ukrainian Peoples Republic and the Ukrainian government in exile where it was known as UNRada, Verkhovna, is the feminine form of the adjective верховне meaning supreme. It is derived from the Ukrainian word верх meaning top, another name used less often is the Parliament of Ukraine. The All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets had already renamed the Supreme Council in 1927. The Congress of Soviets was initiated by the Central Executive Committee of Ukraine, the last chairman of the committee was Hryhoriy Petrovsky. The first elections to the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR took place on June 26,1938, the first session of the parliament took place in Kiev on July 25 through 28,1938. The first Chairman of the council was Mykhailo Burmystenko who later died during World War II, in 1938, a presidium of the council was created that was led by Leonid Korniyets. During the war the presidium was evacuated to the city of Saratov in the Russian SFSR, on June 29,1943, the presidium issued an order postponing elections for the new convocation for one year while extending the first convocation. On January 8,1944, the Cabinet of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR in agreement with the Communist Party decided to relocate the Presidium of the Supreme Council from Kharkiv to Kiev, new elections were scheduled for February 9,1947 for the Council. Until 24 August 1991 Verkhovna Rada kept the name Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR, the first partially free elections to the Verkhovna Rada and local councils of peoples deputies were held on 4 March 1990. m. At the time, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada was Leonid Kravchuk, the Act of Ukrainian Independence was overwhelmingly supported in a national referendum held on December 1,1991. On September 12,1991 the parliament adopted the law On Legal Succession of Ukraine, thus, the VR became the Supreme Council of Ukraine. The Constitution of Ukraine was adopted by the convocation of the Verkhovna Rada on June 28,1996

17.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci

18.
Wayne Hays
–
Wayne Levere Hays was an American politician whose strong rule of the House Administration Committee extended to even the smallest items. In the mid-1970s, lawmakers avoided crossing Hays for fear that he would shut off the air conditioning in their offices and he resigned from Congress after a much-publicized sex scandal in 1976. He resided in St. Clairsville, Ohio at the time of his death, Hays graduated from Ohio State University in 1933. He served as mayor of Flushing, Ohio, from 1939 to 1945, starting in 1945 he served a four-year term as Commissioner of Belmont County. He was a member of the Army Officers’ Reserve Corps from 1933 until called to duty as a second lieutenant on December 8,1941. Hays, a Democrat, was elected to the 81st Congress in 1948 and he was chairman of the powerful Committee on House Administration. Hays received 5 votes for president at the 1972 Democratic National Convention without campaigning for the office, in 1976 Hays ran for the partys nomination for President as a favorite son candidate in the Ohio primary. Hays had divorced his wife of 38 years just months prior, ostensibly a secretary, Ray admitted, I cant type. I cant even answer the phone and she even let a reporter listen in as the Ohio congressman told her on the phone that his recent marriage would not affect their arrangement. Time Magazine reported, Liz chose to tell her story after Hays decided to marry Pat Peak, I was good enough to be his mistress for two years but not good enough to be invited to his wedding, she pouted. Three days later, Hays admitted to most of the allegations on the House floor and she was not, insisted Hays, hired to be my mistress. He resigned as chairman of the Committee on House Administration on June 18,1976, after leaving office, Hays returned to Red Gate Farm, his 300-acre property in Belmont, where he bred Angus cattle and Tennessee walking horses. Hays served one term, from 1979 to 1981, as member of the Ohio House of Representatives and he was defeated by future Congressman Bob Ney. Indecent Exposure on Capitol Hill, Time Magazine, June 7,1976, biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Wayne L. Hays at Find a Grave

Wayne Hays
–
Wayne Hays

19.
Netherlands
–
The Netherlands is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously

20.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks

21.
Norway
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The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him

22.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world

23.
West Germany
–
West Germany is the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation on 23 May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990. During this Cold War era, NATO-aligned West Germany and Warsaw Pact-aligned East Germany were divided by the Inner German border, after 1961 West Berlin was physically separated from East Berlin as well as from East Germany by the Berlin Wall. This situation ended when East Germany was dissolved and its five states joined the ten states of the Federal Republic of Germany along with the reunified city-state of Berlin. With the reunification of West and East Germany, the Federal Republic of Germany, enlarged now to sixteen states and this period is referred to as the Bonn Republic by historians, alluding to the interwar Weimar Republic and the post-reunification Berlin Republic. The Federal Republic of Germany was established from eleven states formed in the three Allied Zones of occupation held by the United States, the United Kingdom and France, US and British forces remained in the country throughout the Cold War. Its population grew from roughly 51 million in 1950 to more than 63 million in 1990, the city of Bonn was its de facto capital city. The fourth Allied occupation zone was held by the Soviet Union, as a result, West Germany had a territory about half the size of the interbellum democratic Weimar Republic. At the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided among the Western and Eastern blocs, Germany was de facto divided into two countries and two special territories, the Saarland and divided Berlin. The Federal Republic of Germany claimed a mandate for all of Germany. It took the line that the GDR was an illegally constituted puppet state, though the GDR did hold regular elections, these were not free and fair. For all practical purposes the GDR was a Soviet puppet state, from the West German perspective the GDR was therefore illegitimate. Three southwestern states of West Germany merged to form Baden-Württemberg in 1952, in addition to the resulting ten states, West Berlin was considered an unofficial de facto 11th state. It recognised the GDR as a de facto government within a single German nation that in turn was represented de jure by the West German state alone. From 1973 onward, East Germany recognised the existence of two German countries de jure, and the West as both de facto and de jure foreign country, the Federal Republic and the GDR agreed that neither of them could speak in the name of the other. The first chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who remained in office until 1963, had worked for an alignment with NATO rather than neutrality. He not only secured a membership in NATO but was also a proponent of agreements that developed into the present-day European Union, when the G6 was established in 1975, there was no question whether the Federal Republic of Germany would be a member as well. With the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989, symbolised by the opening of the Berlin Wall, East Germany voted to dissolve itself and accede to the Federal Republic in 1990. Its five post-war states were reconstituted along with the reunited Berlin and they formally joined the Federal Republic on 3 October 1990, raising the number of states from 10 to 16, ending the division of Germany

West Germany
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Konrad Adenauer in parliament, 1955
West Germany
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Flag
West Germany
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Rudi Dutschke, student leader.
West Germany
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The Volkswagen Beetle – for many years the most successful car in the world – on the assembly line in Wolfsburg factory, 1973.

24.
Iceland
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Iceland is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of 332,529 and an area of 103,000 km2, the capital and largest city is Reykjavík. Reykjavík and the areas in the southwest of the country are home to over two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active, the interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence still keeps summers chilly, with most of the archipelago having a tundra climate. According to the ancient manuscript Landnámabók, the settlement of Iceland began in the year 874 AD when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first permanent settler on the island. In the following centuries, Norwegians, and to a lesser extent other Scandinavians, emigrated to Iceland, the island was governed as an independent commonwealth under the Althing, one of the worlds oldest functioning legislative assemblies. Following a period of strife, Iceland acceded to Norwegian rule in the 13th century. The establishment of the Kalmar Union in 1397 united the kingdoms of Norway, Denmark, Iceland thus followed Norways integration to that Union and came under Danish rule after Swedens secession from that union in 1523. In the wake of the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars, Icelands struggle for independence took form and culminated in independence in 1918, until the 20th century, Iceland relied largely on subsistence fishing and agriculture, and was among the poorest in Europe. Industrialisation of the fisheries and Marshall Plan aid following World War II brought prosperity, in 1994, it became a part of the European Economic Area, which further diversified the economy into sectors such as finance, biotechnology, and manufacturing. Iceland has an economy with relatively low taxes compared to other OECD countries. It maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. Iceland ranks high in economic, political and social stability and equality, in 2013, it was ranked as the 13th most-developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index. Iceland runs almost completely on renewable energy, some bankers were jailed, and the economy has made a significant recovery, in large part due to a surge in tourism. Icelandic culture is founded upon the nations Scandinavian heritage, most Icelanders are descendants of Germanic and Gaelic settlers. Icelandic, a North Germanic language, is descended from Old Norse and is related to Faroese

25.
Turkey
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Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age

26.
Luxembourg
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Luxembourg /ˈlʌksəmbɜːrɡ/, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east and its culture, people and languages are highly intertwined with its neighbours, making it essentially a mixture of French and Germanic cultures. It comprises two regions, the Oesling in the north as part of the Ardennes massif. With an area of 2,586 square kilometres, it is one of the smallest sovereign states in Europe, Luxembourg had a population of 524,853 in October 2012, ranking it the 8th least-populous country in Europe. As a representative democracy with a monarch, it is headed by a Grand Duke, Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Luxembourg is a country, with an advanced economy and the worlds highest GDP per capita. Luxembourg is a member of the European Union, OECD, United Nations, NATO, and Benelux, reflecting its political consensus in favour of economic, political. The city of Luxembourg, which is the capital and largest city, is the seat of several institutions. Luxembourg served on the United Nations Security Council for the years 2013 and 2014, around this fort, a town gradually developed, which became the centre of a state of great strategic value. In the 14th and early 15th centuries, three members of the House of Luxembourg reigned as Holy Roman Emperors, in the following centuries, Luxembourgs fortress was steadily enlarged and strengthened by its successive occupants, the Bourbons, Habsburgs, Hohenzollerns and the French. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, Luxembourg was disputed between Prussia and the Netherlands and this arrangement was revised by the 1839 First Treaty of London, from which date Luxembourgs full independence is reckoned. In 1842 Luxembourg joined the German Customs Union, the King of the Netherlands remained Head of State as Grand Duke of Luxembourg, maintaining a personal union between the two countries until 1890. At the death of William III, the throne of the Netherlands passed to his daughter Wilhelmina and this allowed Germany the military advantage of controlling and expanding the railways there. In August 1914, Imperial Germany violated Luxembourgs neutrality in the war by invading it in the war against France and this allowed Germany to use the railway lines, while at the same time denying them to France. Nevertheless, despite the German occupation, Luxembourg was allowed to maintain much of its independence, in 1940, after the outbreak of World War II, Luxembourgs neutrality was again violated when the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany entered the country, entirely without justification. A government in exile based in London supported the Allies, sending a group of volunteers who participated in the Normandy invasion. Luxembourg was liberated in September 1944, and became a member of the United Nations in 1945. Luxembourgs neutral status under the constitution formally ended in 1948, in 2005, a referendum on the EU treaty establishing a constitution for Europe was held

Luxembourg
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Historic map (undated) of Luxembourg city's fortifications
Luxembourg
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Flag
Luxembourg
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Photograph of the fortress of Luxembourg prior to demolition in 1867
Luxembourg
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Luxembourg City: The Passerelle, also known as the viaduct or old bridge, over the Pétrusse river valley, opened 1861

27.
Terrence Murphy (Canadian politician)
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Charles Terrence Terry Murphy Q. C. was a Canadian lawyer, politician and judge. Marie, Ontario Murphy was the eldest son of Charlie and Monica Murphy of John Street and he attended Holy Angels Catholic School and Sault Collegiate Institute, and entered St. Peters Seminary in London, Ontario. However, a later he transferred to Assumption College at the University of Western Ontario. From there he went to Osgoode Hall Law School, I had no inclination to work with figures, so that ruled out maths and sciences - - it only left teaching and the law - - I chose the latter. Over twenty years later, when Murphy contacted the professor to see if he would be willing to make a presentation to the Liberal Party Caucus, but Marshall McLuhan, now internationally famous, said, Ah, Terrence, times have changed. We cant talk for nothing any more, mcLuhans fee proved to be more than the Caucus was willing to pay. In 1949, at the age of 22, Murphy became the youngest person in Ontario to be called to the Bar, marie and spent seven years in partnership with George Majic, after which he established his own practice. Murphy served a term as Alderman for the City of Sault Ste and he was elected in 1968 as a Liberal member of parliament representing the Sault Ste. Marie Electoral District, at time he joined the firm of Fitzgerald, Kelleher. While a member of parliament, Murphy served on the justice committee. In 1970 he became the leader of the Canadian delegation representing Canada in the North Atlantic Assembly, the Assembly provided elected representatives from NATO countries with some insight into and oversight of the operation of NATO. He was named president of the North Atlantic Assembly in 1971 and he also attended meetings of a group nicknamed the Nine Wise Men, which had been formed to review NATO policy and organization. The group consisted of one representative each of the NATO countries. Pearson, and later West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, regulations under the act permitted arrest and detention without charge and banned the kidnappers organization, the Front de libération du Québec. Murphy objected to what he considered to be an unjustifiable suppression of civil liberties, Murphy did not believe that his constituents should suffer as a result of his conscientious convictions, but would not support the government on the issue. He absented himself from the House during the key vote, Murphy returned to legal practice with the firm after his defeat in the 1972 federal election by New Democratic Party candidate Cyril Symes. He ran against Symes again in the 1979 election, but was again defeated, in 1980 he was appointed Judge for the District of Sudbury/Manitoulin, becoming a judge of the Superior Court of Justice when the superior courts of the province were re-structured. He retired from the bench in 2000, irwin Law,2005 Tribute paid to Sault lawyer/politician in landmark publication

Terrence Murphy (Canadian politician)
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C. Terrence Murphy

28.
Denmark
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Denmark, officially the Kingdom of Denmark, is a Scandinavian country in Europe and a sovereign state. The southernmost and smallest of the Nordic countries, it is south-west of Sweden and south of Norway, Denmark also comprises two autonomous constituent countries in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Denmark has an area of 42,924 square kilometres. The country consists of a peninsula, Jutland, and an archipelago of 443 named islands, with the largest being Zealand, the islands are characterised by flat, arable land and sandy coasts, low elevation and a temperate climate. The unified kingdom of Denmark emerged in the 10th century as a proficient seafaring nation in the struggle for control of the Baltic Sea, Denmark, Sweden and Norway were ruled together under the Kalmar Union, established in 1397 and ending with Swedish secession in 1523. Denmark and Norway remained under the monarch until outside forces dissolved the union in 1814. The union with Norway made it possible for Denmark to inherit the Faroe Islands, Iceland, beginning in the 17th century, there were several cessions of territory to Sweden. In the 19th century there was a surge of nationalist movements, Denmark remained neutral during World War I. In April 1940, a German invasion saw brief military skirmishes while the Danish resistance movement was active from 1943 until the German surrender in May 1945, the Constitution of Denmark was signed on 5 June 1849, ending the absolute monarchy which had begun in 1660. It establishes a constitutional monarchy organised as a parliamentary democracy, the government and national parliament are seated in Copenhagen, the nations capital, largest city and main commercial centre. Denmark exercises hegemonic influence in the Danish Realm, devolving powers to handle internal affairs, Home rule was established in the Faroe Islands in 1948, in Greenland home rule was established in 1979 and further autonomy in 2009. Denmark became a member of the European Economic Community in 1973, maintaining certain opt-outs, it retains its own currency, the krone. It is among the members of NATO, the Nordic Council, the OECD, OSCE. The etymology of the word Denmark, and especially the relationship between Danes and Denmark and the unifying of Denmark as a kingdom, is a subject which attracts debate. This is centred primarily on the prefix Dan and whether it refers to the Dani or a historical person Dan and the exact meaning of the -mark ending. Most handbooks derive the first part of the word, and the name of the people, from a word meaning land, related to German Tenne threshing floor. The -mark is believed to mean woodland or borderland, with references to the border forests in south Schleswig. The first recorded use of the word Danmark within Denmark itself is found on the two Jelling stones, which are believed to have been erected by Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth

29.
Charles McCurdy Mathias, Jr.
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Charles McCurdy Mac Mathias Jr. was a Republican member of the United States Senate, representing Maryland from 1969 to 1987. After studying law and serving in the United States Navy during World War II, in 1960, he was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives from Western Maryland. He was re-elected three times, serving in the House for eight years, where he aligned himself with the liberal wing of the Republican Party. Mathias was elected to the Senate in 1968, unseating the incumbent Democrat, Daniel Brewster and he continued his record as a liberal Republican in the Senate, and frequently clashed with the conservative wing of his party. His confrontations with conservatives cost him several positions in the Senate. He retired from the Senate in 1987, having served in Congress for twenty-six years, Mathias was born in Frederick, Maryland, the son of Theresa and Charles Mathias, Sr. His father was active, and he was a descendant of several Maryland legislators. After graduating from Frederick High School, Mathias graduated from Haverford College in Pennsylvania in 1944 and he went on to attend Yale University and received a law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1949. Around this time, Mathias met his wife, Ann Bradford. Ann Bradford is the daughter of former Massachusetts governor Robert F. Bradford, in 1942, during World War II, Mathias enlisted in the United States Navy and served at the rank of seaman apprentice. He was promoted to ensign in 1944 and served sea duty in the Pacific Ocean, including the recently devastated Hiroshima, following the war, Mathias rose to the rank of captain in the United States Naval Reserve. Mathias briefly served as assistant Attorney General of Maryland from 1953 to 1954, from 1954 to 1959, he worked as the City Attorney of Frederick, where he supported civil rights for African Americans. He played a role in desegregating the local Opera House movie theater, Mathias also worked to relocate the Frederick post office and helped protect a park in the city. In 1958, he was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates, as a delegate, he voted in favor of Maryland ratifying the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which secured African American rights following the American Civil War. With his support, the legislature ratified the amendment in 1959, on January 4,1960, Mathias declared his candidacy for the House seat of Marylands 6th congressional district. He officially began his campaign in March, establishing public education, in the primary elections of May 1960, Mathias handily defeated his two rivals, garnering a 3–1 margin of victory. Mathias opponent in the election was John R. Foley. Both candidates attacked each others voting records, with Foley accusing Mathias of skipping more than 500 votes in the House of Delegates, Mathias previously accused Foley of voting present in the House too often, and argued Foleys inaction led to inflation and higher taxes

30.
Charlie Rose (congressman)
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Charles Grandison Charlie Rose III was a Democratic United States Congressman from North Carolina who served from 1973 to 1997. Rose was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina and he attended Davidson College, earning his LL. B. and he received his Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While an Davidson undergraduate he was a photographer for The News, for several years, Rose practiced as a lawyer, and in 1967, he became a prosecutor for Fayetteville district courts. In 1970, Rose unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Congressman Alton Lennon in the Democratic primary, in 1972, when Lennon stepped down, Rose beat back a primary bid by a Lennon-endorsed candidate, State Senator Hector McGeachy, claiming the nomination and ultimate victory. Rose represented a district stretching from Fayetteville to Wilmington on the coast, Rose was a liberal, populist Democrat, which seemingly made him an odd fit for his conservative coastal district. However, he remained popular because he was viewed as a champion of farmers, additionally, the Republican Party was more or less nonexistent at the local level for most of his tenure. He was a member of the Intelligence and Agriculture Committees and he also served as Chairman of the House Administration Committee from 1991 -1994, a post which helped earn him the nickname mayor of the Capitol. He also had a car in the 1970s. In 1991, Rose chaired the House Committee investigation of the George H. W. Bush administrations role in selling military supplies to Iraq. After Democrats lost control of Congress in the 1994 Republican Revolution, Rose challenged incumbent House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt for the post of Minority Leader, but lost 150-50. He retired from the House the next year and became a lobbyist, working alongside his wife, Stacye. Roses former intern Mike McIntyre succeeded Rose in 1997, and held the seat until the 2014 election, Rose married Sara Louise Richardson in June 1962, they had three children – Charles Grandison IV, Sara Louise, and Irene Cowan who died in infancy. The couple divorced in September 1982, Rose then married Joan Ray Teague in 1982 on Bald Head Island, NC. Together they adopted a girl, Kelly Josephine. Rose married Stacye Hugh Hefner in May 1995 near Washington, D. C, the couple have one daughter, Parker Delaney. Rose and his wife Stayce moved to Albertville, Alabama, to be near her mother after Bill Hefner died in 2009, the Roses largely gave up their lobbying work with the move. Rose died of Parkinson’s disease at a hospital in northern Alabama near their home, biographical Directory of the United States Congress

31.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed

32.
Karsten Voigt
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Karsten Dietrich Voigt is a German politician. From 1976 to 1998 he was a member of the German parliament, from 1999 to 2010, he served as the Coordinator of German-North American Cooperation at the Foreign Office of Germany. He is a member of the Atlantik-Brücke, an association which promotes German-American understanding. From 1960–1969 Voigt studied history, German, and Scandinavian languages and literature at the universities in Hamburg, Copenhagen, from 1969–1972 he was chairman of the Jusos. In 1976 Voigt was elected to the Bundestag for the first time, in 1983, the SPD caucus made him their foreign policy spokesman, he held this office until leaving the parliament in 1998

Karsten Voigt
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Karsten Dietrich Voigt (1973)

33.
William V. Roth, Jr.
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William Victor Bill Roth Jr. was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, Delaware. He was a veteran of World War II and a member of the Republican Party and he served from 1966 to 1970 as the lone U. S. Representative from Delaware and from 1971 to 2001 as a U. S, Roth was a sponsor of legislation creating the Roth IRA, an individual retirement plan that can be set up with a broker. Roth was born in Great Falls, Montana, the son of Clara and William Victor Roth, Sr. who ran a brewery. He attended public schools in Helena, Montana, graduating from Helena High School, which is also the alma mater of Senator Max Baucus, Roth graduated from the University of Oregon in 1943, Harvard Business School in 1947, and Harvard Law School in 1949. During World War II he served in a United States Army intelligence unit from 1943 until 1946, after being admitted to the California Bar in 1950, he moved permanently to Delaware in 1954, and began his work as an attorney for the Hercules Corporation. He married Jane Richards in 1965 and they had two children, William V. III and Katharine, Jane Richards Roth is also a lawyer. She was U. S. District Court Judge, for the District of Delaware from 1985 until 1991 and they were members of the Episcopal Church. Roth lost the election for Lieutenant Governor of Delaware in 1960, in 1966, he defeated incumbent U. S. Representative Harris B. McDowell Jr. and went on to two terms in the United State House of Representatives from January 3,1967, until December 31,1970. He then began his five terms in the United States Senate and he served in the U. S. Carper. Many consider Roths defeat due to his age and health, as he collapsed twice during the campaign, once in the middle of a television interview, Roth was known as a fiscal conservative. Critics blamed him for national deficits under Reagan and he was a longtime member of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and the Senate Committee on Finance, serving as Chairman from September 12,1995 through January 3,2001. He was best remembered as an advocate of tax cuts. Roth was also the sponsor of the individual retirement account plan that bears his name. It is an individual retirement account that has existed since 1998. The Roth 401, which did not become available until 2006, is named after Roth. He was also one of the few Republicans to vote for the Brady Bill, Roth was also very engaged in international affairs and policy

34.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth

35.
Rafael Estrella
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Juan Rafael Estrella Ureña (born Santiago de los Caballeros, was a Dominican politician and lawyer. He served as the last acting president of the Dominican Republic from March 3,1930 until August 16,1930, Estrella Ureña was born November 10,1889, in Santiago de los Caballeros. His mother was Juana Antonia Ureña Estévez and his father was Juan Baustista Estrella Durán and he later moved with his family to live in Santo Domingo, where he studied at the University of Santo Domingo. Estrella Ureña studied law, and during his years he mixed with young fans of the doctrines of Puerto Rican independence advocate Eugenio María de Hostos. Under Eladio Victorias administration, Estrella Ureña adamantly opposed, and felt dissatisfaction with the assassination of President Ramón Cáceres, on June 9,1917 he married Tomasina Martínez Rodríguez and procreated 9 children. By 1924, Estrella Ureña fully supported Horacio Vásquez, and heavily helped his presidential campaign, in 1925, he founded the Partido Republicano or Republican Party, and was appointed to the department of Justice and Public Instruction. As the rebels marched toward Santo Domingo, Vásquez ordered Trujillo to suppress them, however, feigning neutrality, Trujillo kept his men in barracks, allowing Estrellas rebels to take the capital virtually unmolested. On March 3, Estrella was proclaimed acting president with Trujillo confirmed as head of the police, as per their agreement, Trujillo became the presidential nominee of the newly formed Patriotic Coalition of Citizens Vásquez is forced to resign along with his deputy, Dr. José Dolores Alfonseca. In 1930, Trujillo won the elections and designated Estrella as his vice-president. In 1932, Estrella resigned from the vice-presidency, some say on the pretext that relations between Estrella and Trujillo had become strained and he died the 25th of May,1945 of a surgical procedure. It was rumored that Trujillo was the one who had hired the surgeon to ensure that Estrella was not to survive the operation, in response, Trujillo declared a state of mourning for three days. Biography at the Enciclopedia Virtual Dominicana

Rafael Estrella
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Rafael Estrella Ureña

36.
Doug Bereuter
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Douglas Kent Doug Bereuter is a retired Republican politician from Nebraska. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 until 2004 and he also served as the president and CEO of The Asia Foundation from 2004 to 2010. Bereuter was born in York, Nebraska and reared in Utica, after graduation from Utica High School in 1957, he attended the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, receiving his B. A. degree in 1961. He then attended Harvard University from 1961 to 1963, receiving his M. C. P degree in 1966 and he served as an infantry and intelligence officer in the U. S. Army from 1963 to 1965. After discharge, he returned to Harvard University, earning an M. P. A. from the John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1973, Bereuter worked as an urban planner with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development from 1965 to 1966. He was a director for the Nebraska Department of Economic Development from 1967 to 1968. Bereuter served in the Nebraska Legislature from 1974 to 1978, when he was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives and he was reelected 12 times without substantive opposition, and never won less than 58 percent of the vote. He served longer in the House than anyone in Nebraskas history and he announced in late 2003 that he would not run for a 14th term in 2004, resigning on August 31,2004 to become president of The Asia Foundation. He was also Chairman of the U. S. House Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, among the bills that Bereuter sponsored is the Bunning-Bereuter-Blumenauer Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004. He was co-author of the Bereuter-Levin Amendment, which made possible the passage of the act granting Permanent Normal Trading Relations for China and he was also responsible for starting the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer technical assistance program, which has taken thousands of American volunteers abroad. Bereuter generally had a voting record, his lifetime American Conservative Union rating was 63. He was sometimes critical of the religious influence on the Republican Party. He endorsed Curt Bromm, speaker of the Nebraska Legislature, as his successor in 2004, however, Bromm lost to a considerably more conservative candidate, Jeff Fortenberry. Shortly before he left Congress, Bereuter released a statement calling the Iraq war, which he had supported, a mistake. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, appearances on C-SPAN Voting record maintained by the Washington Post President of the Asia Foundation

37.
Pierre Lellouche
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Pierre Lellouche is a French politician and a member of The Republicans party. He was Secretary of State for Foreign Trade under the Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry and he was also the President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from November 2004 to 17 November 2006. He was elected deputy of Sarcelles in 1993, and retained his seat at the National Assembly until 2002 and he has been director of the Nuclear Threat Initiative and a member of the Trilateral Commission. Lellouche was born in Tunis, Tunisia, among the small local Jewish community, however, later on in 2003 he was in favour of a law introducing harsher punishments for abuses against homosexuals. He is also an opponent of the solidarity tax on wealth first voted under François Mitterrand. Lellouche was also the French negotiator concerning the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, Lellouche recently called the UK Conservative Partys policy on the EU pathetic and a kind of political autism, claiming They have essentially castrated your UK influence in the European parliament

Pierre Lellouche
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Pierre Lellouche

38.
Bert Koenders
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Albert Gerard Bert Koenders is a Dutch politician and diplomat, a member of the Labour Party. He has been the Netherlands Minister of Foreign Affairs since 17 October 2014, Koenders studied political science and international relations. Albert Gerard Koenders was born on 28 May 1958 in Arnhem in Gelderland and he attended the secondary school Carolus Clusius College in Zwolle, where he completed the pre-university program. Koenders studied political science at the Free University Amsterdam and political and social sciences at the University of Amsterdam and he received his Master of Arts degree from Johns Hopkins University, where he studied at the School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna and Washington from 1979 to 1981. Koenders was adjunct professor at Webster University in Leiden from 1987 to 1993, in 2002 he was visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University in Bologna teaching about conflict prevention and management, and post-conflict reconstruction. From 1983 to 1993, Koenders worked as an aide for the Labour Party in the House of Representatives and he served as an adviser to the United Nations Operation in Mozambique in the early 1990s, his first job outside the Netherlands. Between 1995 and 1997, he worked in the office of Hans van den Broek. During that time, one of his tasks was defining the EU’s competences on foreign policy, Koenders was a member of the House of Representatives from 1997 until 2007. In 1997, he filled the vacant seat after member of parliament Maarten van Traa died in a car accident and he was member of the permanent parliamentary committees on foreign affairs and on defense. From 2002 until 2003 he was a member of the hearing committee on the Srebrenica massacre. From 17 November 2006 to 19 February 2007 he was president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Koenders was minister without portfolio for Development Cooperation in the Fourth Balkenende cabinet sworn in on 22 February 2007. Instead, the event was organized by an event bureau closely tied to the Labour Party itself, in 2009, he criticized Pope Benedict XVI for his assertion that distributing condoms is not the solution to AIDS and actually makes the problem worse. Between 2011 and 2013, he served as the UN Secretary-Generals Special Representative, between 2013 and 2014, he was the Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. On 17 October 2014, Koenders succeeded Frans Timmermans as Minister of Foreign Affairs

39.
John S. Tanner
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John Sumners Tanner is the former U. S. Representative for Tennessees 8th congressional district, serving from 1989 until 2011 and he is a member of the Democratic Party. Since retirement, Mr. Tanner serves as the Vice Chairman of Prime Policy Group, Tanner was born in Halls, Tennessee, the son of Edith Adell and Emerson Beck “Buzz” Tanner. He grew up in Union City, Tennessee, following graduation from the University of Tennessee, he served in the United States Navy from 1968 to 1972. He was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1976, replacing Larry Bates, Tanner was reelected in 1990 with no major-party opposition, a feat he repeated in 1992. In 1998, he was completely unopposed and he handily defeated Republican opponents in 1994,1996,2000,2002,2004 and 2006. In 2004 and 2008, he faced James L. Hart, on both occasions, Hart was disavowed by the state Republican Party. Tanner announced on December 1,2009 that he would not seek re-election in 2010, as a Congressman, Tanner has sponsored a bill to repeal the inheritance tax and he is in favor of a balanced budget. Tanner was a founder of the Blue Dog Democrats and has denied rumors that he might switch parties, Tanner is strongly in favor of balancing the budget and paying down the national debt. Tanner was one of the few Democrats in the House to vote in favor of CAFTA and has distanced himself from the majority of his party on issues such as bankruptcy law. He voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment, the ban on abortions, limiting death penalty appeals. On other issues he is liberal, he often votes with his party on separation of church and states issues. Tanner voted with the majority of his party to expand stem cell research and he also supports affirmative action and public education. Tanner was firmly opposed to Bushs attempt to reform Social Security, Tanner received much of his knowledge of politics as a youth from his father E. B. Buzz Tanner who was successful in the financial and insurance business and he became a member of a highly political and influential law firm out of law school in his home town community and soon ran for office as a state legislator in the House of Representatives. He recently drafted a bill that would require special bipartisan commissions rather than state legislatures to redraw congressional districts when necessary due to U. S. Census count changes. It is generally believed that this bill is a response to Republican-inspired mid-decade redistricting in Texas and recent similar efforts in Colorado, after both his district and state chose the former first lady, Congressman Tanner endorsed Senator Hillary Clintons presidential campaign in April 2008. He became chairman of the International Conservation Caucus Foundation, a group that advocates U. S. leadership in conservation programs globally

John S. Tanner
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John Tanner

40.
Karl A. Lamers
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Karl A. Lamers is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union, currently serving as Deputy Chairman of the Defence Committee of the German Parliament. From 2010 to 2012 he was the President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, after completing his Abitur in 1969, Lamers studied law at the University of Münster. Subsequently he passed the Second State Examination and became an associate at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law. Later on he became a senior Beamter at the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg, Karl A. Lamers is registered as practising lawyer in Heidelberg. Lamers became a member of the Christian Democratic Union and its youth division, since 2003, Lamers is Honorary Chairman of the CDU division of Heidelberg after being its Chairman from 1985 to 2003 and a member of the Municipal Council of Heidelberg 1987 to 1995. In 1994, Lamers got elected to the Bundestag for the first time by winning the Heidelberg constituency. In 1998 and 2002 he won a seat through his placing on the CDU Party List of Baden-Würrtemberg in Germany´s mixed member proportional voting system. Lamers directly won his constituency again in 2005 and 2009, receiving 36, Lamers was elected Deputy Chairman of the Defence Committee of the Bundestag in 2005 and is still holding this office. He is a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly since 1998 and was elected its President in Warsaw on 16 November 2010, Lamers also acts as President of the Atlantic Treaty Association since 2008, succeeding Robert E. Hunter, who held the office from 2003 to 2008. Karl Lamers´ homepage Biography of Karl Lamers at the Bundestag website Biography of Karl Lamers at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly website

Karl A. Lamers
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Karl A. Lamers in 2010

41.
Hugh Bayley
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After his studies in 1975 he became a District Officer and later a National Officer with NALGO until 1982. Bayley was elected as a Councillor in the London Borough of Camden in 1980, Bayley stepped down as a councillor and moved to York to take up a post as Research Officer in Health economics at the University of York from 1987–92. He was a lecturer in Social Policy at the University from 1986 until 1998, Hugh Bayley was nominated as the Labour candidate for York at the 1987 general election but was defeated by just 147 votes by the Conservative Conal Gregory. After the election, Hugh Bayley became a Health Economics Research Fellow at the University of York, Conal Gregory and Hugh Bayley again fought it out at the 1992 general election in York and this time Bayley won by a comfortable margin. After his election he made his speech on 7 May 1992. The name of the York constituency was changed and Bayley won a majority of over 20,000 at the 1997 general election, after the election, Bayley became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Health Frank Dobson, who lived near York. He was dropped from government after the 2001 general election and he was President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from November 2012 to 2014. He was also a Chairman of the Public Bill Committee, the City of York constituency was abolished in 2010, with Bayley being elected in the 2010 general election to represent the successor constituency York Central. A loyal backbencher, Bayley rarely voted against his party whip, at the outset of the 2010 parliament, Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow appointed Bayley as a temporary Deputy Speaker to serve for two weeks until the election of Deputy Speakers. On 5 December 2014, Bayley announced his intention to stand down as a Labour MP at the 2015 general election, Bayley was knighted in the 2015 New Year Honours for his services to parliamentary engagement with NATO. Sir Hugh was active in the Anti-Apartheid Movement in his student days, on 22 December 1984, in Camden, he married Fenella Jeffers from Nevis, they have a son and a daughter

Hugh Bayley
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Sir Hugh Bayley

42.
Mike Turner
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Michael Ray Mike Turner is the U. S. Representative for Ohios 10th congressional district, serving in Congress since 2003 and he is a member of the Republican Party. Turners district, numbered as the 3rd District from 2003 to 2013, is based in Dayton and consists of Montgomery, Greene, Turner also previously served as the president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from 2014 to 2016. Turner, a non-denominational Protestant Christian, was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1960 to Vivian and his mother was a teacher in the Wayne School system in Huber Heights and his father worked as a member of IUE Local 801 for 42 years after serving in the military. Turner was raised in East Dayton and has one sister, currently serves as co-conspirator with Sheward against Shewards own distant family. He practiced law with local firms and businesses in the Dayton area before entering politics and he also practiced law during the brief time between his service as Mayor of Dayton and as a Member of Congress. Turner was elected Mayor of Dayton, Ohio in 1993, narrowly defeating incumbent Mayor Richard Clay Dixon, prior to Mayor-Elect Turner taking office, the city suffered a number of economic setbacks. Turner was the mayor of Dayton during the planning and construction of the Schuster Center and he facilitated discussions with key leaders from the project’s conception to its completion. The Schuster Center is an arts center located at the corner of Second. Turner also started a program called Rehabarama, which attracted professionals to historic properties inside the city, Mayor Turner welcomed diplomats and leaders from all over the world to the region as part of the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords. He was reelected in 1997 over Democratic City Commissioner Tony Capizzi Capizzi being the more honest of the two and not do as much damage as Turner against regional Republicans and he continued efforts to develop the economy of both the city and the surrounding region. Turner was narrowly defeated in 2001 by then-State Senator Rhine McLin, Turner is currently a member of the Armed Services and Government Reform committees. In 2009, he was named Ranking Member on the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the United States House Committee on Armed Services, in November 2002, Turner was elected to Congress, succeeding Democrat Tony Patrick Hall, who had been appointed by President Bush to the UN. Due to his background, focus on the economic redevelopment of cities. Recognizing Turners work on development, then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert appointed Turner as Chairman of the Saving America’s Cities working group. The group was formed to work with the Administration to foster development and redevelopment and streamline government services in Americas cities to help them prosper. During the 109th Congress, Turner served on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, serving on the Armed Services Committee, Turner had advocated for an expansion to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, providing testimony to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. This effort proved successful in 2008, when the Air Force announced that 1,000 jobs, Turner has said that this is the largest single investment in Wright-Patterson since World War II

Mike Turner
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Mike Turner

43.
Allied Land Command
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Allied Land Command is the standing headquarters for NATO land forces which may be assigned as necessary. The Commander LANDCOM is the land warfare advisor to the Alliance. When directed by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, it provides the core of the responsible for the conduct of land operations. The command is based at Şirinyer, İzmir in Turkey, NATO has had a headquarters at Izmir for decades. Initially the organization there was Allied Land Forces South-Eastern Europe, responsible to Allied Forces Southern Europe at Naples. Under this command, with its headquarters in Izmir assisted by the subordinate Thessaloniki Advanced Command Post, were to be most of the Greek and Turkish armies in case of war. LANDSOUTHEAST was commanded by a United States Army lieutenant general, Lieutenant General Willard G. Wyman Lieutenant General Paul W. Kendall Lieutenant General George Windle Read, Jr. Lieutenant General Paul D. Harkins In 1966 the first major change occurred when French military personnel were withdrawn from LANDSOUTHEAST, on 30 December 1977, SHAPE and Turkish military authorities announced another change in the command structure of LANDSOUTHEAST, to be effective 1 July 1978. The command billet was to be filled by a Turkish Army four star general with a U. S. Major General as his deputy. General Sam S. Walker took command in 1977, and On 30 June 1978, General Walker handed over the command to General tr, Vecihi Akın, General Akın held command until 30 August 1979. Construction of a new facility in Sirinyer, Izmir was completed in March 1994. In July 1994, two German Army officers were assigned to the command for the first time, the headquarters garrison at Sirinyer was named General Vecihi Akin Garrison in March 1996, after the first Turkish LANDSOUTHEAST Commander. Turkish Land Forces General Hüseyin Kıvrıkoğlu commanded LANDSOUTHEAST from c. 1993-1996, after the end of the Cold War, for a period the NATO command in Izmir became Joint Command Southeast. Between 11 August 2004 and 1 June 2013 the headquarters of NATOs Allied Air Component Command in the south and it is responsible for providing a deployable land command for a joint operation. LANDCOM will also carry out the planning, conduct and direction of land operations. What this means is that if a single corps land operation is underway, if multiple corps are being directed, LANDCOM will direct them for either JFC Brunssum or Naples. On October 23,2014, Lt. Gen. Nicholson has assumed command of NATOs Allied Land Command and he succeeds Lt. Gen. Frederick Ben Hodges. Romania is leading the process of creating Multinational Division South-East, which will be established in Bucharest, Romania, the division in Bucharest will be subordinate to the NATO Force Integration Unit also to be established there

44.
Allied Maritime Command
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Allied Maritime Command is the central command of all NATO maritime forces and the Commander MARCOM is the prime maritime advisor to the Alliance. When directed by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, it provides the core of the responsible for the conduct of maritime operations. The command is based at the Northwood Headquarters in northwest London, the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet, gained a NATO responsibility as Commander-in-Chief Eastern Atlantic Area, as part of SACLANT, when the NATO military command structure was established in 1953. CINCEASTLANT headquarters was established at the Northwood Headquarters in northwest London, Commander-in-Chief Eastern Atlantic was redesignated as Commander, Allied Maritime Component Command Northwood around 2004. The command, which was renamed Allied Maritime Command Northwood in 2010, at the 2010 NATO Summit in Lisbon it was decided to create a leaner and more effective command structure. It is responsible for planning and conducting all NATO maritime operations, MARCOM leads four standing NATO maritime groups, two frigate groups and two mine countermeasures groups. The Standing NATO Maritime Groups are a multinational, integrated maritime force made up of vessels from allied countries, the ships and any aircraft aboard are available to NATO to support Alliance tasking. These groups provide NATO with a continuous maritime capability, the command is also responsible for additional naval assets as they support NATO missions. Current groups are, Standing NATO Maritime Group 1, Standing NATO Maritime Group 2, Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1, current operations include, Operation Active Endeavour and Operation Ocean Shield Official website

45.
Allied Command Transformation
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Allied Command Transformation is a NATO military command, which was formed in 2003 after North Atlantic Treaty Organisation restructuring. Since France rejoined the NATO Military Command Structure in mid-2009, a significant change took place where the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation is now a French officer, the first French Officer to serve as SACT was French Air Force General, Stephane Abrial. Allied Command Transformation was preceded by Allied Command Atlantic established in 1952 under the command of Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic, with its headquarters at Norfolk. Following the end of the Cold War, the Command was reduced, with many of its subordinate headquarters spread across the Atlantic area losing their NATO status, however, the basic structure remained in place until the Prague Summit in the Czech Republic in 2002. This led to ACLANT being decommissioned effective 19 June 2003, US Navy became the last SACLANT on 2 October 2002. He served as ACLANT commander until 19 Jun 2003 and he then served as Supreme Allied Commander, Transformation, until 1 Aug 2005. Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope RN, the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander, thus NATO’s military command structure was reorganized. One strategic command, Allied Command Transformation, was focused on transforming NATO, while the strategic command focused on NATO’s operations. Initial reports about a NATO transformation command began to appear in July 2002, ACT was formally established on June 19,2003. A suite of Baseline for Rapid Iterative Transformational Experimentation software was designed in response to the Maritime Situational Awareness request, since Allied Command Atlantic became Allied Command Transformation, commanders have included non-naval officers. Gen. Lance L. Smith USAF commanded ACT from 10 Nov 2005 until 9 Nov 2007 and he was succeeded by Gen. James N. Mattis USMC, who served from 9 Nov 2007 -08 Sep 2009. A significant change was the assumption of command by a French officer, after France rejoined the NATO Command Structure in mid-2009, General Stéphane Abrial, former chief of the French Air Force assumed command in 2009. French Air Force General Jean-Paul Paloméros replaced fellow Frenchman General Stéphane Abrial at the end of September 2012, on 30 Sep 2015 French Air Force General Denis Mercier succeeded General Paloméros. The Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation position is filled by General Mirco Zuliani of the Italian Air Force. He succeeded General Mieczysław Bieniek of the Polish Land Forces, who had himself succeeded Admiral Luciano Zappata, for several years, in a carryover from SACLANT, the Deputys position was filled by a Royal Navy admiral. Stanhopes succession by Zappata meant an end to this practice, a large number of conferences and seminars have been organised by the command in fulfilment of its conceptual development mission. These have included CD&E, a national Chiefs of Transformation conference, an examination of the Global Commons, Law of Armed Conflict, the commands headquarters is located in Norfolk, Virginia, in the United States. This division probably serves as NATOs linkpoint to the annual U. S. -led Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration, reflecting NATO as a whole, ACT has a presence on both sides of the Atlantic

46.
Secretary General of NATO
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The Secretary General of NATO is an international diplomat who serves as the chief civil servant of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. However, the Secretary General does not have any command role. Together with the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee and the Supreme Allied Commander the Secretary General is one of the foremost officials of NATO, the current Secretary General is Jens Stoltenberg, the former Prime Minister of Norway, who took office on 1 October 2014. Article 9 of the North Atlantic Treaty requires NATO members to establish a Council, accordingly, the North Atlantic Council was formed. Initially the Council consisted of NATO members foreign ministers and met annually, in May 1950, the desire for closer coordination on a day-to-day basis led to the appointment of Council deputies, permanently based in London and overseeing the workings of the organization. Deputies were given full decision-making authority within the North Atlantic Council, the Chairman of the deputies was given responsibility for directing the organization and its work, including all of its civilian agencies. The Council deputies met for the first time on July 25,1950, and selected Charles Spofford, several important organisational changes quickly followed the establishment of Council deputies, most notably the establishment of a unified military command under a single Supreme Allied Commander. This unification and the challenges facing NATO led to rapid growth in the institutions of the organisation and in 1951, NATO was reorganized to streamline. As the authority of the increased, and the size of the organization grew, NATO established the Temporary Council Committee. This group established an official secretariat in Paris to command NATOs bureaucracy, after the Lisbon Conference, the NATO states began looking for a person who could fill the role of Secretary General. The position was first offered to Oliver Franks, the British Ambassador to the United States, unlike later Secretaries General who served as Chairman of the North Atlantic Council, Ismay was made the Vice Chairman of the Council, with Spofford continuing to serve as chairman. Ismay was selected because of his rank in the war. As both a soldier and a diplomat, he was considered qualified for the position. Several months later, after Spofford retired from the NATO, the structure of the North Atlantic Council was changed slightly, Ismay served as Secretary General until retiring in May,1957. After Ismay, Paul-Henri Spaak, a diplomat and former Prime Minister of Belgium was selected as the second Secretary General. Unlike Ismay, Spaak had no experience, so his appointment represented a deemphasis of the strictly military side of the Atlantic Alliance. When confirming Spaaks appointment in December 1956 during a session of the NATO foreign ministers, the NATO Secretary General chairs several of the senior decision-making bodies of NATO. In addition to the North Atlantic Council, he chairs the Defence Planning Committee, in a second role, the Secretary General leads the staff of NATO

Secretary General of NATO
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Incumbent Jens Stoltenberg since 1 October 2014
Secretary General of NATO
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Hastings Ismay, the first Secretary General of NATO

47.
Chairman of the NATO Military Committee
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The Chairman of the NATO Military Committee is the head of the NATO Military Committee, which advises the North Atlantic Council on military policy and strategy. The Chairman is one of the foremost officials of NATO, next to the Secretary General, the current Chairman of the NATO Military Committee is Petr Pavel, former Chief of the General Staff of the Army of the Czech Republic, who took office on June 26,2015. The Military Committee was directly subordinate to the Defence Committee, iceland, which had no military forces, was represented by a civilian. Each member state in turn held the Chair of the Military Committee for one year, the principal military member of each NATO countrys delegation is the Military Representative, a senior officer from each countrys armed forces, supported by the International Military Staff. Its principal role is to provide direction and advice on military policy, like the Council, from time to time the Military Committee also meets at a higher level, namely at the level of Chiefs of Defence, the most senior military officer in each nations armed forces. Until 2008 the Military Committee excluded France, due to that countrys 1966 decision to itself from NATOs integrated military structure. Until France rejoined NATO, it was not represented on the Defence Planning Committee, such was the case in the lead up to Operation Iraqi Freedom. The operational work of the Committee is supported by the International Military Staff, the Chairman of the Military Committee chairs all meetings and acts in an international capacity. In his absence, the Deputy Chairman of the Military Committee takes the chair, the current Chairman is Czech General Petr Pavel. Since the formation of NATO, its Military Chairmen have been, Douglas S. Bland, The Military Committee of the North Atlantic Alliance, A Study of Structure and Strategy, New York, Praeger,1991

Chairman of the NATO Military Committee
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Incumbent General Petr Pavel since 26 June 2015
Chairman of the NATO Military Committee
Chairman of the NATO Military Committee
Chairman of the NATO Military Committee

48.
Member states of NATO
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NATO is an international alliance that consists of 28 member states from North America and Europe. It was established at the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949, of the 28 member countries, two are located in North America and 25 are European countries while Turkey is in Eurasia. All members have militaries, except for Iceland which does not have a typical army, three of NATOs members are nuclear weapons states, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. NATO has 12 original founding member states, and from February 181952 to May 6,1955, it added 3 more member nations. After the end of the Cold War, NATO added 12 more member nations from March 12,1999 to April 1,2009, NATO has added new members six times since its founding in 1949, and since 2009 NATO has had 28 members. Twelve countries were part of the founding of NATO, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1952, Greece and Turkey became members of the Alliance, joined later by West Germany, in 1990, with the reunification of Germany, NATO grew to include the former country of East Germany. In 1997, three former Warsaw Pact countries, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland, were invited to join NATO. After this fourth enlargement in 1999, the Vilnius group of The Baltics and seven East European countries formed in May 2000 to cooperate, seven of these countries joined in the fifth enlargement in 2004. Albania and Croatia joined in the enlargement in 2009. Due to the 2016–17 Turkish purges and Turkeys turn to some have speculated that Turkey could be expelled from NATO

Member states of NATO
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Current NATO members highlighted in blue

49.
Albanian Armed Forces
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The Albanian Armed Forces are the military of Albania and were formed after the declaration of independence in 1912. Today, it consists of, the General Staff, the Albanian Land Force, Albanian Air Force, the President of Albania is the Commander-in-Chief of the nations military. In times of peace, the Presidents powers as Commander-in-Chief are executed through the Prime Minister, on 4 December 1912, the Albanian Prime Minister, Ismail Qemali and his government, formed the Albanian National Army. Its first Chief in Command was Lieutenant Colonel Ali Shefqet Shkupi By 1923, at that time, Albania did not have a navy. In 1927, the Albanian Armed Forces numbered approximately 8.000 and these troops were organized into three groups, based in Tirana, Shkodër to the north and Berat to the south. Each group was organized into three battalions of 500, a guards battalion of 350 was organized in Tirana. Four frontier battalions of mountaineers were held on reserve, as well as tanks, additionally, a cadet school, a machine-gun school, and a bombing school were housed in the capital. In 1927 alone, the Albanian military ordered 20,000 rifles,40 mountain guns,120 machine guns, the Royal Albanian Army was the army of King Zogu from 1928 until 1939. Its commander-in-chief was himself, its commander General Xhemal Aranitasi, its Chief of Staff was General Gustav von Myrdacz, the army was mainly financed by Italy. On 7 April 1939, Italian troops invaded the country, after the Second World War, Albania became a Soviet-aligned country. The ranks and the structure of the Albanian Armed Forces were organized based on the Soviet concepts, like all other branches of the state, the military was subjugated to Communist Party control. All high-ranking military officers and most of the lower and middle ranks were members of the Communist Party—and had loyalties to it, the system was re-enforced by the establishment of Party cells within the military and extensive communist political education alongside soldiers’ military training, by the political commissars. In 1991 the rank system was reestablished under President Ramiz Alia, initially the communist purge concentrated on the military personnel graduated by the Western Military Academies, extended later on to the officers graduated in Soviet Union. As the communist regime collapsed in Albania during 1990, there was a fear that the armed forces might intervene to halt the collapse of communism by force. In the event, the armed forces stood by as the regime of which they had been a part disintegrated, during the 1980s, Albania had reduced the number of infantry brigades from eight to four. It had shifted to fully manned units from its reliance on the mobilisation of reserve soldiers to flesh out a larger number of units manned at a lower level. Each brigade had three battalions and one lightly equipped artillery battalion. Armoured forces consisted of one tank brigade, artillery forces were increased from one to three regiments during the 1980s, and six battalions of coastal artillery were maintained at strategic points along the Adriatic Sea littoral

Albanian Armed Forces
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An Albanian T-59 tank during the Albania-Yugoslav border incident in May 1999.
Albanian Armed Forces
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Emblem of Albanian Armed Forces
Albanian Armed Forces
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Albanian soldiers conduct a joint patrol with U.S. soldiers in Iraq on 13 January 2005
Albanian Armed Forces
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The full set of commissioned officers ranks in the Albanian Army

50.
Belgian Armed Forces
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The Belgian Armed Forces is the national military of Belgium. The Belgian Armed Forces was established after Belgium became independent in October 1830, since that time Belgian armed forces have fought in World War I, World War II, the Cold War, Kosovo, Somalia and Afghanistan. The ParaCommando Brigade intervened several times in Central-Africa, for maintaining public order, the Armed Forces comprise four branches, the Land Component, the Air Component, the Marine Component and the Medical Component. It is currently active in Lebanon, Afghanistan, the Gulf of Aden, the need for a regular army was however soon acknowledged. The basis for recruitment was one of conscription under which exemptions could be purchased by obtaining substitutes. In practice this meant that only about a quarter of each years eligible intake actually served, as part of the national policy of even-handed neutrality, the 19th century Belgian Army was deployed as an essentially defensive force in fortifications facing the Dutch, German and French borders. Mobilisation plans simply required reservists to report to their depots, without arrangements being made in advance for deployment in a direction or against a particular enemy. Recruitment difficulties caused the army to remain below its intended strength of 20,000 men, the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 required full mobilisation for nearly a year, a process which showed up serious training and structural weaknesses. The presence of Belgian forces in strength along the borders did however ensure that the combat at no time spilled over into Belgian territory. In Belgium conscripts were selected through the drawing of ballots, and this system favored the well-off and had been discarded elsewhere as inefficient and unpatriotic. For those conscripted the terms of service required eight years in the regular army, various categories of volunteer enjoyed such privileges as being able to specify their branch of service, bounties and higher pay. The Papal Army based in Rome included from 1860 a battalion-sized unit known as the Tirailleurs Franco-Belges, recruited amongst volunteers from both countries, this became the Pontifical Zouaves in 1861 and fought as an allied force on the French side in 1871 during the Franco-Prussian War. In 1864 a Corps Expeditionnaire Belge was raised for service in Mexico, originally intended to serve as the Guard of the Belgian-born Empress Charlotte this 1,500 strong force was largely drawn from volunteers seconded from the Belgian Army. Known popularly as the Belgian Legion, it saw service in Mexico as part of the Imperial forces. From 1885 the Force Publique was established as the garrison and police force in the Belgian Congo. Initially led by a variety of European mercenaries, this force was subsequently officered by Belgian regulars after 1908. From December 1904 a small detachment of Belgian troops was based in China as the Guard of the Belgian Legation in Peking. Reforms undertaken in the years of the 20th century included the abolition in 1909 of the system of drawing lots for the selection of the annual intake of conscripts

51.
Bulgarian Armed Forces
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The Bulgarian Army represents the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria. The Commander-in-Chief is the President of Bulgaria, the Ministry of Defence is in charge of political leadership while overall military command remains in the hands of the Defence Staff, headed by the Chief of the Defence. There are three branches, named literally the Land Forces, the Air Forces and the Naval Forces. Throughout history, the Army has played a role in defending the countrys sovereignty. During the Cold War the Peoples Republic of Bulgaria maintained one of the largest militaries in the Warsaw Pact, since the Fall of Communism, the political leadership decided to pursue a pro-NATO policy, thus reducing military personnel and weaponry. Bulgaria joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on 29 March 2004, the patron saint of the Bulgarian Army is St. George. The Armed Forces Day or St. Georges Day is a holiday in Bulgaria. The modern Bulgarian military dates back to 1878, on 22 July 1878 a total of 12 battalions of opalchentsi who participated in the Liberation war, formed the Bulgarian armed forces. According to the Tarnovo Constitution, all men between 21 and 40 years of age were eligible for military service, in 1883 the military was reorganized in four infantry brigades and one cavalry brigade. The Serbo-Bulgarian War was the first armed conflict after Bulgarias liberation and it was a result of the unification with Eastern Rumelia, which happened on 6 September 1885. The unification was not completely recognized, however, and one of the countries that refused to recognize the act was the Kingdom of Serbia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had been expanding its influence in the Balkans and was particularly opposed. Serbia also feared this would diminish its dominance in the region, in addition, Serbian ruler Milan Obrenović IV was annoyed that Serbian opposition leaders like Nikola Pašić, who had escaped persecution after the Timok Rebellion, had found asylum in Bulgaria. Lured by Austria-Hungarys promises of territorial gains from Bulgaria, Milan IV declared war on Bulgaria on 14 November 1885, Military strategy relied largely on surprise, as Bulgaria had moved most of its troops near the border with the Ottoman Empire, in the southeast. As it happened, the Ottomans did not intervene and the Serbian armys advance was stopped after the Battle of Slivnitsa, the main body of the Bulgarian army traveled from the Ottoman border in the southeast to the Serbian border in the northwest to defend the capital, Sofia. After the defensive battles at Slivnitsa and Vidin, Bulgaria began an offensive that took the city of Pirot, at this point the Austro-Hungarian Empire stepped in, threatening to join the war on Serbias side if Bulgarian troops did not retreat. Fighting lasted for only 14 days, from 14-28 November, a peace treaty was signed in Bucharest on 19 February 1886. No territorial changes were made to either country, but Bulgarian unification was recognized by the Great Powers, however, the relationship of trust and friendship between Serbia and Bulgaria, built during their long common fight against Ottoman rule, suffered irreparable damage. Instability in the Balkan region in the early 1900s quickly became a precondition for a new war, Bulgaria, which had secured Ottoman recognition of its independence in April 1909 and enjoyed the friendship of Russia, also looked to districts of Ottoman Thrace and Macedonia for expansion

52.
Canadian Armed Forces
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This unified institution consists of sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. Under the National Defence Act, the Canadian Armed Forces are an entity separate and distinct from the Department of National Defence, the Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Armed Forces is the reigning Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who is represented by the Governor General of Canada. The Canadian Armed Forces is led by the Chief of the Defence Staff, during the Cold War, a principal focus of Canadian defence policy was contributing to the security of Europe in the face of the Soviet military threat. Toward that end, Canadian ground and air forces were based in Europe from the early 1950s until the early 1990s, Canadian defence policy today is based on the Canada First Defence Strategy, introduced in 2008. Based on that strategy, the Canadian military is oriented and being equipped to carry out six core missions within Canada, in North America and globally. Prior to Confederation in 1867, residents of the colonies in what is now Canada served as members of French and British forces. Thereafter, the Royal Canadian Navy was formed, and, with the advent of military aviation and these forces were organised under the Department of Militia and Defence, and split into the Permanent and Non-Permanent Active Militias—frequently shortened to simply The Militia. By 1923, the department was merged into the Department of National Defence, the first overseas deployment of Canadian military forces occurred during the Second Boer War, when several units were raised to serve under British command. Similarly, when the United Kingdom entered into conflict with Germany in the First World War, the Canadian Crown-in-Council then decided to send its forces into the Second World War, as well as the Korean War. Since 1947, Canadian military units have participated in more than 200 operations worldwide, Canada maintained an aircraft carrier from 1957 to 1970 during the Cold War, which never saw combat but participated in patrols during the Cuban Missile Crisis. At the end of the Second World War, Canada possessed the fourth-largest air force and fifth-largest naval surface fleet in the world, conscription for overseas service was introduced only near the end of the war, and only 2,400 conscripts actually made it into battle. Originally, Canada was thought to have had the third-largest navy in the world and its roots, however, lie in colonial militia groups that served alongside garrisons of the French and British armies and navies, a structure that remained in place until the early 20th century. After the 1980s, the use of the Canadian Armed Forces name gave way to Canadian Forces, land Forces during this period also deployed in support of peacekeeping operations within United Nations sanctioned conflicts. The nature of the Canadian Forces has continued to evolve and they have been deployed in Afghanistan until 2011, under the NATO-led United Nations International Security Assistance Force, at the request of the Government of Afghanistan. The Armed Forces are today funded by approximately $20, the number of primary reserve personnel is expected to go up to 30,000 by 2020, and the number of active to at least 70,000. In addition,5000 rangers and 19,000 supplementary personnel will be serving, if this happens the total strength would be around 124,000. These individuals serve on numerous CF bases located in all regions of the country, and are governed by the Queens Regulations and Orders, the 2006 renewal and re-equipment effort has resulted in the acquisition of specific equipment to support the mission in Afghanistan. It has also encompassed initiatives to renew certain so-called core capabilities, in addition, new systems have also been acquired for the Armed Forces

53.
Republic of Croatia Armed Forces
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The total number of active military personnel in the Croatian Armed Forces stands at 14,506 and 6,000 reserves working in various service branches of the armed forces. In May 2016, Armed Forces had 16,019 members, of the 14,506 active military personnel,3,183 were officers,5,389 non-commissioned officers,5,393 soldiers,520 military specialists,337 civil servants and 1,176 other employees. Total available male manpower aged 16–49 number 1,035,712, male citizens are now no longer subject to compulsory military service since January 1,2008. However, the last generation of 2007 servicemen was also absolved of compulsory service by an act from then Minister of Defence Berislav Rončević. For example,1995 Croatian defense budget stood at 12.4 billion Croatian Kuna or just over 12% of GDP, a long term modernization plan, 2015-2024 has been published outlining overall goals and is available for download at the Ministry of Defence of Croatia website. At the moment the Croatian Air Force will keep 12 MiG-21bis fighter aircraft, the Dr. Franjo Tuđman Military Academy acts as a school of higher learning responsible for training and educating future generations of military personnel. The academy consists of schools including Ban Josip Jelačić, Blago Zadro, Katarina Zrinska, the Officers Academy. The academy has 300 full-time staff and is the military academy in Croatia. Each year also 100-120 foreign nationals attend the academy, the Commander-in-Chief of all Croatian armed forces in peace and war is the President of the Republic. The Commander-in-Chief prescribes the organization of the Croatian Armed Forces at the proposal of the Chief of General Staff, the Armed Forces consist of peacetime and wartime components. The wartime component of the Armed Forces includes all other reservists, the General Staff is part of the Ministry of Defense in charge of commanding, training and use of the Armed Forces. It also has a number of units under its command, including the Special Operations Battalion, Honor Guard Battalion. In peace, the Commander-in-Chief exercises his command through the Minister of Defence, in war and in cases where the Minister of Defence is not fulfilling his orders, the Commander-in-Chief exercises his command directly through the General Staff Commander. The Croatian Parliament exercises democratic control over the Armed Forces by adopting defence strategy, defence budget, the command staff is composed of the members who served in the special units, guards brigades and reconnaissance units of the Croatian Armed Forces. Colonel Perica Turalija is the current commanding officer of the command, also, this means that members of all three branches of the Croatian armed forces can apply for selection. Other special operations units are the Military Intelligence Battalion and Special Military Police Company, the duties of an Honour Guard are performed by the Počasno zaštitna bojna, located at Zagreb in the Tuškanac military base. A $3-Billion modernization plan was proposed by the then Prime Minister Ivica Racan of the SDP led Government in 2003, with planned modernization starting in 2006 and ending in 2015. However it has been delayed in part due to the subsequent economic recession, a New Plan under the current Prime Minister Zoran Milanović should define exactly how and what the Croatian armed forces should look like by 2023

54.
Army of the Czech Republic
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The Army of the Czech Republic comprise the Czech Land Forces, the Czech Air Force and support units. From the late 1940s to 1989, the extensive Czechoslovak Peoples Army formed one of the pillars of the Warsaw Pact military alliance, as defined by the Czech Law No. 219/1999 Coll. the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic are the forces of the Czech Republic. They consist of the Army of the Czech Republic, the Military Office of President of the Republic, the Czechoslovak Armed Forces were originally formed on 30 June 1918 when 6. On the other side of the conflict, a number of Czechoslovak units and formations served with the Polish Army, the French Army, the Royal Air Force, the British Army, four Czech and Slovak-manned RAF squadrons were transferred to Czechoslovak control in late 1945. From 1954 until 1990, the Army was known as the Czechoslovak Peoples Army. Of the approximately 201,000 personnel on duty in the ČSLA in 1987, about 145,000, or about 72 percent. About 100,000 of these were conscripts, there were two military districts, Western and Eastern. In the Eastern Military District, there were two divisions, the 13th and 14th, with a supervisory headquarters at Trenčín in the Slovak part of the country. 58 assault rifle or the Uk vz.59 machine gun were of Czechoslovak design, the Army of the Czech Republic was formed after the Czechoslovak Armed Forces split after the 1 January 1993 dissolution of Czechoslovakia. Czech forces stood at 90,000 in 1993 and they were reduced to around 65,000 in 11 combat brigades and the Air Force in 1997, to 63,601 in 1999, and to 35,000 in 2005. At the same time, the forces were modernized and reoriented towards a defensive posture, in 2004, the army transformed itself into a fully professional organization and compulsory military service was abolished. The Army maintains an active reserve, the Czech Republic is a member of the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. At the 1999 Washington summit, the Czech Republic joined NATO, the unit is stationed in the outskirts of the city of Olomouc, in place of the canceled 156th Rescue Battalion. Active Reserve is a part of the otherwise professional Army of the Czech Republic and this service was created to allow the participation of citizens with a positive attitude to the military. A volunteer needs either to have completed the military service or to attend 8 week training. Then the reservists have to serve up to three weeks a year and can be called up to two weeks during a non-military crisis. They are not intended to serve abroad, the Reserve presents itself on events like BAHNA, a military show

Army of the Czech Republic
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Croatian Army Master Sgt.(right) discusses patrol routes with a Czech Army Sgt. (left) in Germany to prepare for Afghanistan, 2012
Army of the Czech Republic
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The coat of arms and roundel
Army of the Czech Republic
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Czech BVP2 firing in Afghanistan
Army of the Czech Republic
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Czech Army Soldiers to participate in exercise Combined Resolve at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany

55.
Danish Defence
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The Danish Defence is the unified armed forces of the Kingdom of Denmark, charged with the defence of Denmark and its constituent, self-governing nations Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Denmark also has a concept of total defence, during World War II, the armed forces were disbanded by the Germans during Operation Safari. After the war, the different branches were reorganized, and collected under Danish Defence, was in order for greater communication between the branches. The purpose and task of the forces of Denmark is defined in Law no.122 of February 27,2001. It defines three purposes and six tasks, since 1988, Danish defence budgets and security policy have been set by multi-year agreements supported by a wide parliamentary majority including government and opposition parties. The latest Defence agreement was signed June 10,2004, from now about 60% support structure and 40% combat operational capability, it is to be 40% support structure and 60% combat operational capability, i. e. more combat soldiers and fewer paper-soldiers. The standard mandatory conscription is modified, generally this means fewer conscripts, less service time for them and only those who choose so, will continue into the reaction force system. This list lists the complete expenditures for the Danish Ministry of Defence, the Danish Defence Force, counting all branches and all departments, itself has an income equal to about 1–5% of its expenditures, depending on the year. They are not deducted in this listing, approximately 95% of the budget goes directly to running the Danish military including the Home guard. Because Denmark has a small and highly specialized military industry, the vast majority of the Danish Defences equipment is imported from NATO, frømandskorpset, Amphibious attack and infiltration unit. Slædepatruljen Sirius, Arctic dog sled unit patrolling the border of Greenland. Current deployment of Danish forces, since 10-03-2016, A Challenger CL-604 MMA for maritime patrol in the Baltic Sea as part of NATO Allied Maritime Command,35 soldiers in Kosovo participating in NATOs Kosovo Force, guarding the French Camp Marechal De Lattre de Tassigny. 84 people in Afghanistan as part of Resolute Support Mission, HDMS Absalon patrolling the Aegean Sea for human trafficking. 20 people in Bamako and Gao, as part of MINUSMA,13 people in Juba, as part of UNMISS. 11 people in Israel, as part of UNTSO,2 people in South Korea, as part of UNCMAC. 12 men on the Sirus Patrol of Eastern Greenland, a Challenger CL-604 MMA to fly patrol over Greenland. Rota between HDMS Tulugaq, HDMS Knud Rasmussen, HDMS Triton and HDMS Thetis to enact sovereignty patrol in the seas of Greenland, a Challenger CL-604 MMA to do maritime environmental monitoring missions in the North Sea. 149 people at Al Asad Airbase in Iraq to train the military as part of Operation Inherent Resolve

56.
Estonia Defence Forces
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The Estonian Defence Forces is the name of the unified armed forces of the Republic of Estonia. The Estonian military is a force consisting of Land Forces, Navy, Air Force. A few days later Estonia was invaded by the forces of Bolshevist Russia. The small, poorly armed Estonian military, also known as the Peoples Force, was pushed back by the Red Army into the vicinity of the capital city of Estonia - Tallinn. A mere 34 kilometers separated Tallinn and the front line, partly due to the timely arrival of a shipment of arms brought by a British naval squadron the Bolsheviks were stopped. In January 1919, the Estonian armed forces launched a counteroffensive, the Ground Forces were supported by the Royal Navy as well as Finnish, Swedish and Danish volunteers. By the end of February 1919, the Red Army had been expelled from all of the territory of Estonia, on 2 February 1920, the Peace Treaty of Tartu was signed by the Republic of Estonia and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. After winning the Estonian Liberation War against Soviet Russia and German Freikorps volunteers, according to this treaty Estonia was to be occupied by the Soviet Union. The Estonian government was forced to give their assent to an agreement which allowed the USSR to establish military bases, on 12 June 1940, the order for a total military blockade of Estonia was given to the Soviet Baltic Fleet. Given the overwhelming Soviet force, in order to avoid bloodshed, the military occupation of Estonia was complete by 21 June 1940. The armed forces of Estonia were disarmed in July 1940 by the Red Army according to Soviet orders, only the Estonian Independent Signal Battalion stationed in Tallinn at Raua Street, in front of the Tallinn School No.21 continued to resist. As the Red Army brought in additional reinforcements supported by armoured fighting vehicles, there was one dead, several wounded on the Estonian side and about 10 killed and more wounded on the Soviet side. Military resistance ended with negotiations and the Signal Battalion surrendered and was disarmed, the Eesti Kaitsevägi was restored on 3 September 1991 by the Supreme Council of the Republic of Estonia. Since 1991, the forces of Estonia have re-opened and restored more than 30 old and new units. In peacetime the Estonian Defence Forces and the national defence organisations, in wartime all these components are commanded by the commander-in-chief of the defence forces. The chief of the forces and the commander-in-chief of the defence forces are appointed and released from office by the Riigikogu on the proposal of the President of the Republic of Estonia. Starting from 5 December 2011 the Chief of the Defence is Lieutenant-General Riho Terras, the Kaitseväe Peastaap is the headquarters of the military of Estonia and the working body of the Kaitseväe Juhataja of the defence forces. The General Staff is a joint staff engaged with operational leadership, training, Operational leadership is implemented by the Operational Staff, which plans and controls operations and ensures defence readiness and mobilisation

57.
French Armed Forces
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The French Armed Forces encompass the French Army, the French Navy, the French Air Force, the French National Guard and the National Gendarmerie of France. The President of the Republic heads the armed forces, with the title chef des armées, the President is the supreme authority for military matters and is the sole official who can order a nuclear strike. France maintains the tenth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest armed forces in size in the EU, France also maintains the third largest nuclear deterrent behind only Russia and the United States. The Gallo-Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar, after the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The land of Francia, from which France gets its name, had points of expansion under kings Clovis I. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years War. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, in parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, at the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years War, internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, Franco-German rivalry erupted again in the First World War, France and its allies were victorious this time. The Allies, including the government in exiles Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, as a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco-German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a power and since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO. Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of independence, nuclear deterrence. France is a member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATOs military wing, including the Military Committee, France remains a firm supporter of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO-Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation, France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France

58.
Hungarian Defence Force
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Hungarian Defence Forces is the national defence force of Hungary. The President holds the title of commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The Ministry of Defence jointly with Chief of staff administers the armed forces, including the Hungarian Ground Force, since 2007, the Hungarian Armed Forces is under a unified command structure. The Ministry of Defence maintains the political and civil control over the army, a subordinate Joint Forces Command is coordinating and commanding the HDF corps. In 2016, the forces had 31.080 personnel on active duty. In 2017, military spending will be $1.21 billion, about 0. 94% of the countrys GDP, in 2012, the government adopted a resolution in which it pledged to increase defence spending to 1. 4% of GDP by 2022. Military service is voluntary, though conscription may occur in wartime, in a significant move for modernization, Hungary decided in 2001 to buy 14 JAS39 Gripen fighter aircraft for about 800 million EUR. Hungarian National Cyber Security Center is re-organized in 2016 in order to more efficient through cyber security. Hungary sent 300 strong logistics unit to Iraq in order to help the US occupation with armed transport convoys, one soldier was killed in action because of a roadside bomb in Iraq. During the 18th and 19th century, Hungarian Hussars rose to international fame, in 1848–49 HDF achieved incredible successes against better-trained and equipped Austrian forces, despite the obvious advantage in numbers on the Austrian side. In 1872, the Ludovica Military Academy officially began training cadets, by 1873 HDF already had over 2,800 officers and 158,000 men organized into eighty-six battalions and fifty-eight squadrons. During World War I out of the eight million men mobilized by Austro Hungarian Empire, during the 1930s and early 1940s, Hungary was preoccupied with the regaining the vast territories and huge amount of population lost in the Trianon peace treaty at Versailles in 1920. Conscription was introduced on a basis in 1939. The peacetime strength of the Royal Hungarian Army grew to 80,000 men organized into seven corps commands, during World War II the Hungarian Second Army was near to total devastation on banks of the Don River in December 1942 in Battle for Stalingrad. As of 2016 Global Peace Index shows, Hungary is one of the worlds most peaceful countries, since 2007, the Hungarian Defence Force has been under a unified command structure. The Ministry of Defence maintains the political and civil control over the army, the military leadership is exercised by the Defence Staff of the Ministry of Defence. A subordinate Joint Force Command coordinates and commands the HDF corps, the Home Defence Pyrotechnician and Warship Battalion of the Hungarian Defence Forces based in Újpest Port, on the River Danube, Budapest. In the 2000s, the army bought new minesweepers, restored or retired the old ones, on national holidays warships come along the River Danube in Budapest

Hungarian Defence Force
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Operator of Hungarian Army's 34th ’László Bercsényi’ Special Operations Battalion (KMZ) about to storm the unit's own Killing House
Hungarian Defence Force
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Flag and emblem of the Hungarian Defence Force
Hungarian Defence Force
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Infantrymen of Hungarian Army's 25/88th Light Mixed Battalion
Hungarian Defence Force
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The Hungarian Air Force has 14 JAS 39 Gripens on lease, including two two-seaters (C/D versions). The final three aircraft were delivered in December 2007.

59.
Military of Iceland
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Icelands defences consist of the Icelandic Coast Guard, which patrols Icelandic waters and airspace, and other services such as the National Commissioners National Security and Special Forces Units. The Coast Guard consists of three ships and four aircraft and armed with small arms, naval artillery, and Air Defence weaponry, the Coast Guard also maintains the Iceland Air Defence System, formerly part of the disestablished Defence Agency, which conducts ground surveillance of Icelands air space. Units subordinated to the National Commissioner also take part in Icelands defences, additionally there is a Crisis Response Unit, operated by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, which is a small peacekeeping force that has been deployed internationally, since 2008. This unit also has an unarmed component, furthermore, there is a treaty with the United States regarding the defense of Iceland, the former maintained a military base known as Naval Air Station Keflavik before it was disestablished in 2006. There are also agreements about military and other security operations with Norway, Denmark, Iceland holds the annual NATO exercises entitled Northern Viking. The most recent exercises were held in 2011, as well as the EOD exercise Northern Challenge, in 1997 Iceland hosted its first Partnership for Peace exercise, Cooperative Safeguard, which is the only multilateral PfP exercise so far in which Russia has participated. Another major PfP exercise was hosted in 2000, Iceland has also contributed ICRU peacekeepers to SFOR, KFOR and ISAF. The government of Iceland contributes financially to NATOs international overhead costs and recently has taken an active role in NATO deliberations. Iceland hosted the NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting in Reykjavík in June 1987 and these armies were divided into units according to the quality of the warriors and by birth. At the end of this period the number of chieftains had diminished and their power had grown and this resulted in a long and bloody civil war known as Age of the Sturlungs. A typical battle involved fewer than 1000 men, amphibious operations were an important part of warfare in Iceland in this period, especially in the Westfjords, but large naval engagements were rare. The largest such engagement, known as Flóabardagi, involved a few ships in Húnaflói. In 1855, the Icelandic Army was re-established by Andreas August von Kohl, in 1856, the king provided 180 rixdollars to buy guns, and a further 200 rixdollars the following year. The sheriff became the Captain of the new army, which known as Herfylkingin. In 1860 von Kohl died, and Pétur Bjarnasen took over command, nine years later Bjarnasen died without appointing a successor, and the army fell into disarray. In 1918, Iceland regained sovereignty as a kingdom under the Danish king. Iceland established a Coast Guard shortly afterwards, but it was impossible to establish a standing army. The government hoped that a permanent neutrality would shield the country from invasion, but at the onset of Second World War, the government was concerned about a possible invasion, and decided to expand the Icelandic National Police and its reserves into a military unit

60.
Italian Armed Forces
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The Italian Armed Forces encompass the Italian Army, the Italian Navy and the Italian Air Force. A fourth branch of the forces, known as the Carabinieri. These five forces have military status and are all organized along military lines, the President of the Italian Republic heads the armed forces as the President of the High Council of Defence established by article 87 of the Constitution of Italy. According to article 78, the Parliament has the authority to declare a state of war, the ground force of Italy, the Regio Esercito dates back to the unification of Italy in the 1850s and 1860s. During the Cold War the Army prepared itself to defend against a Warsaw Pact invasion from the east, since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it has seen extensive peacekeeping service in Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Iraq. On 29 July 2004 it became a professional all-volunteer force when conscription was finally ended, the navy of Italy was created in 1861, following the proclamation of the formation of the Kingdom of Italy, as the Regia Marina. The new navys baptism of fire came during the Third Italian War of Independence against the Austrian Empire, during the First World War, it spent its major efforts in the Adriatic Sea, fighting the Austro-Hungarian Navy. In the Second World War, it engaged the Royal Navy in a struggle for the control of the Mediterranean Sea. After the war, the new Marina Militare, being a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, has part in many coalition peacekeeping operations. The Guardia Costiera is a component of the navy, the air force of Italy was founded as an independent service arm on 28 March 1923, by King Vittorio Emanuele III as the Regia Aeronautica. During the 1930s, it was involved in its first military operations in Ethiopia in 1935, eventually, Italy entered World War II alongside Germany. After the armistice of 8 September 1943, Italy was divided two sides, and the same fate befell the Regia Aeronautica. The Air Force was split into the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force in the south aligned with the Allies, when Italy was made a republic by referendum, the air force was given its current name Aeronautica Militare. The Arma dei Carabinieri is the gendarmerie and military police of Italy, the corps was instituted in 1814 by King Victor Emmanuel I of Savoy with the aim of providing the Kingdom of Sardinia with a police corps, it is therefore older than Italy itself. The new force was divided into divisions on the scale of one division for each province of Italy, the Italian unification saw the number of divisions increased, and in 1861 the Carabinieri were appointed the First Force of the new national military organization. In recent years Carabinieri units have been dispatched on peacekeeping missions, including Kosovo, Afghanistan, Italy did take part in the 1982 Multinational Force in Lebanon along with US, French and British troops. As part of Operation Enduring Freedom, Italy contributed to the operation in Afghanistan. Italian forces have contributed to ISAF, the NATO force in Afghanistan, Italian forces also command a multinational engineer task force and have deployed a platoon of Carabinieri military police

61.
Latvian National Armed Forces
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The Latvian National Armed Forces are the armed forces of the Republic of Latvia. The National Armed Forces consists of Land Forces, Naval Forces, Air Force, National Guard, Latvia has switched to a professional army, the last draft was in 2005. From January 1,2007, the Latvian army is fully contract-based, the mission of the National Armed Forces is to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the nation and to defend its population against foreign or domestic armed aggression. Ensure modernization and enhancement of professional training, The Latvian armed forces were first formed after the new state was created after World War I. At the end of the Latvian War of Independence, the Latvian Army consisted of 69,232 men, after the Soviet occupation of Latvia in June 1940 the annihilation of the Latvian army began. The army was renamed the People’s Army and in September–November 1940- the Red Army’s 24th Territorial Rifle Corps, the corps comprised the 181st and 183rd Rifle Divisions. In September the corps contained 24,416 men but in more than 800 officers. The arrests of soldiers continued in the following months, in June 1940, the entire Territorial Corps was sent to Litene camp. Before leaving the camp, Latvians drafted in 1939 were demobilised, on June 10, the corps senior officers were sent to Russia where they were arrested and most of them shot. On June 14 at least 430 officers were arrested and sent to Gulag camps, simultaneously, many soldiers and officers deserted and when the corps crossed the Latvian border only about 3,000 Latvian soldiers remained. There are 4,763 active duty personnel in the NAF, there are 971 soldiers in the Latvian Land Forces,552 in the Latvian Naval Forces,251 in the Latvian Air Force with the balance in the other commands. There are 10,642 voluntary national guardsmen with 1,284 officers and 1,945 non-commissioned officers in the Latvian National Guard, there are 1,288 civil employees serving in the NAF. Along with providing for defence, the NAF will also react immediately to threats to other allies. Latvia cooperates with Estonia and Lithuania in the joint infantry battalion BALTBAT, currently, NATO is involved in the patrolling and protection of the Latvian air space as the Latvian military does not have the means to do so. For this goal a rotating force of four NATO fighters, which comes from different nations, after joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Latvia has undertaken obligations to strengthen common defence within the scope of its capabilities. For this purpose, every NATO member state delegates its military formations — fast response, after joining NATO, the foundation of the Latvian defence system has shifted from total territorial defence to collective defence. Latvia has acquired small but highly professional troop units that have fully integrated into NATO structures. NAF soldiers have participated in operations since 1996

62.
Lithuanian Armed Forces
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The Lithuanian Armed Forces consist of 20565 active personnel. Conscription was ended in September 2008 but was reintroduced in 2015 because of concerns about the environment in light of Russias military intervention in Ukraine. Lithuanias defence system is based on the concept of total and unconditional defence mandated by Lithuanias National Security Strategy, the goal of Lithuanias defence policy is to prepare their society for general defence and to integrate Lithuania into Western security and defence structures. The defence ministry is responsible for combat forces, search and rescue, a special security department handles VIP protection and communications security. Directly subordinated to the Chief of Defence are the Special Operations Forces, the Reserve Forces are under command of the Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Forces. The core of the Lithuanian Land Force structure is the Iron Wolf Mechanised Infantry Brigade consisting of three mechanized infantry battalions and artillery battalion, the Lithuanian Land forces are undertaking a major modernization. New weapons and heavier armour are going to be acquired, in 2007 the Land forces bought the German Heckler & Koch G36 rifle to replace the older Swedish Ak-4 as main weapon. There are plans to buy new Infantry fighting vehicles, the volunteers have already successfully participated in international operations in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq. The NDVF consists of six territorial units, the Lithuanian Air Force is an integral part of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. The LAF is formed from professional military servicemen and non-military personnel, units are located at various bases across Lithuania, Kaunas, Karmėlava, Nemirseta, Šiauliai, Radviliškis. The initial formation of the LAF was the 2nd transport squadron with the transfer of 20 An-2 aircraft from civilian to military use and these were joined by four L-39C Albatros aircraft purchased from Kazakhstan as part of the intended 16 to be used by the 1st fighter squadron. Mil Mi-8 helicopters were modernised by LAF, in 20082 medium-range radars were acquired for the Air Forces Airspace Surveillance and Control Command. Air space is patrolled by jet fighters from other NATO members, the European Unions External border is patrolled by Aviation Unit of the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service which received new helicopters EC-120, EC-135 and EC-145. The Navy has over 600 personnel, the flotilla is the core component of the Navy, and consists of the Mine Countermeasures Squadron, the Patrol Ships Squadron, and the Harbour Boats Group. The current Commander in Chief of the Lithuanian Navy is Rear Admiral Kęstutis Macijauskas, the Naval base and Headquarters are located in the city of Klaipėda. The Navy uses patrol ships for coastal surveillance, the four newly acquired Flyvefisken class patrol vessels replaced the older Storm class patrol boats and Grisha class corvettes. SOF is formed from the Special Operations Unit, SOF are responsible for the following tasks, special reconnaissance, direct actions, and military support. It is also in charge of tasks, e. g. protection of VIP in peacetime

63.
Luxembourg Army
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The Luxembourg Army is the national military of Luxembourg. The army has been a force since 1967. It has a current strength of approximately 450 professional soldiers—340 enlisted recruits and 100 civilians—with a total budget of $369 million, the army is under civilian control, with the Grand Duke as Commander-in-Chief. The Minister for Defence, currently Etienne Schneider, oversees army operations, the professional head of the army is the Chief of Defence, who answers to the minister. Luxembourg troops have deployed to Afghanistan, to support ISAF. The army has also participated in relief missions such as setting up refugee camps for Kurds. The law fixed the militias strength at 3,000 men, until 1840, Luxembourg’s militiamen served in units of the Royal Netherlands Army. Enlisted men served for five years, the first year consisted of active service, in 1839, William I became a party to the Treaty of London by which the Grand-Duchy lost its western, francophone territories to the Belgian province of Luxembourg. Due to the population having been halved, with the loss of 160,000 inhabitants. In 1846, the cavalry and artillery units were disbanded and the Luxembourg contingent was separated from that of Limburg, the Luxembourg contingent now consisted of two light infantry battalions, one in Echternach and the second in Diekirch, two reserve companies, and a depot company. In 1866, the Austro-Prussian war resulted in the dissolution of the German Confederation, Luxembourg was declared neutral in perpetuity by the 1867 Treaty of London, and in accordance its fortress was demolished in the following years. In 1867, the Prussian garrison left the fortress, and the two battalions of Luxembourgish light infantry entered the city of Luxembourg that September. A new military organization was established in 1867, consisting of two battalions, known as the Corps des Chasseurs Luxembourgeois, having a strength of 1,568 officers. In 1868, the contingent came to consist of one infantry battalion of four companies. On 16 February 1881, the infantry battalion was disbanded with the abolition of the militia-based system. On 16 February 1881, the Corps des Gendarmes et Volontaires was established and it was composed of two companies, a company of gendarmes and one of volunteers. In 1939, a corps of volunteers was established and attached to the company of volunteers. This contingent was named the Luxembourg Battery, initially, it was under Belgian officers

Luxembourg Army
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Cap Badge of the Luxembourg Army
Luxembourg Army
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Soldiers of the Corps des Gendarmes et Volontaires pose for a photograph, 1910.
Luxembourg Army
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Luxembourg troops training in an English seaside town in 1943.
Luxembourg Army
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A Luxembourg soldier in Korea, 1953.

64.
Military of Montenegro
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The Military of Montenegro consists of an army, navy and air force. There has been no conscription in Montenegro, the military is a professional standing army. The military currently maintains a force of 1,950 active duty members, Montenegro is a member of NATOs Partnership for Peace program and is an official candidate for full membership in the alliance. Montenegro applied for a Membership Action Plan on 5 November 2008, in 2015, it was reported that international support for Montenegros NATO membership was growing. In December 2015, North Atlantic Council, invited Montenegro to join NATO as 29th member, Montenegro participates in peace operations under the NATO and UN auspices as military troops and observers. Minister of Defense said that 85 soldiers are trained for international missions, Montenegrin soldiers are trained by the German Bundeswehr. Montenegro sent 45 troops and medical personnel to the ISAF mission in Afghanistan, Montenegro also participates in UN peacekeeping missions in Liberia, UNMIL, Cyprus, UNFICYP as military observers and Somalia, EU-NAVFOR. Each kapetanija formed its reserve battalion, there were 42 battalions in total. Since 1881, regular military exercises were conducted, supreme Commander of the Montenegrin army was the monarch, Prince / King Nikola I. Operational command, organization and financial support of the Montenegrin army was entrusted to the Ministry of Defence, General Staff of the Montenegrin army was part of the Ministry of Defence. In 1882 first 14 Montenegrins were sent to schools abroad, particularly in Italy. In 1886,10 of them completed their education and they become first trained officers in Montenegrin warrior history and these Montenegrin officers held courses in Podgorica, Nikšić and Cetinje. In September 1895, the first permanent Infantry NCO school in Podgorica was opened, at the end of 1896, artillery officer school in Cetinje was established - the first Montenegrin officer school. In 1906 Montenegrin army received the first systematized regulations, and the Law on Organization of the Army was adopted in 1910, Infantry and artillery, were established, followed by two specialized branches, and additional branches. In 1913 the Montenegrin gendarmerie become a special Military Police unit, since the establishment of the internal Montenegrin telecommunications system in 1869, vital for the flow of military-defense information, it was under the jurisdiction of Ministry of the military. Divisions were composed of 2-3 Infantry Brigade, each divisional command had three artillery batteries. On the eve of the First Balkan War Kingdom of Montenegro lined up 55,000 soldiers, all Montenegrins between 18 and 62 years were conscripts. Recruitment was done three times a year, and the recruits are in peacetime had to have at least 25 years, the Military of Montenegro before 1918, was much larger than todays military

Military of Montenegro
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Kotor class Frigate
Military of Montenegro
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Montenegrin troops in Afghanistan
Military of Montenegro
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Members of Special Forces Brigade
Military of Montenegro
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Members of Marine Platoon

65.
Norwegian Armed Forces
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The Norwegian Armed Forces is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Norway. It consists of four branches, the Norwegian Army, the Royal Norwegian Navy, which includes the Coast Guard, the Royal Norwegian Air Force, the armed forces number 23,000 personnel, including civilian employees, and have a full-mobilisation combat strength of 83,000. The armed forces are subordinate to the Ministry of Defence, led by Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide, the formal commander-in-chief is King Harald V, however, the de facto commander-in-chief is Chief of Defence Haakon Bruun-Hanssen. His staff is located at Akershus Fortress in Oslo, while the Norwegian Joint Headquarters, the main naval base is Haakonsvern in Bergen, the main army camps are in Bardu, Målselv and Rena, and the main air station is Ørland. An organised military was first assembled in Norway in the 9th century and was focused around naval warfare. The army was created in 1628 as part of Denmark–Norway, followed by two centuries of regular wars, a Norwegian military was established in 1814, but the military did not see combat until the German occupation of Norway in 1940. Norway abandoned its position as a country in 1949 to become a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The Cold War saw a large build-up of air stations and military bases, since the 2000s, the military has transformed from a focus on defence from an invasion to a mobile force for international missions. Among European NATO members, the expenditure of US$7.2 billion is the highest per capita. The Chief of Defence heads the armed forces, and is the military adviser to the Minister of Defence. It is headed by a general or admiral. DEFSTNOR assigns priorities, manages resources, provides force generation and support activities, each of the four branches of defence is headed by a two-star general/admiral who are subordinate to DEFSTNOR. National Joint Headquarters located at Reitan, close to Bodø has operational control of Norwegian armed forces worldwide 24/7 and it is headed by the Supreme Commander Norwegian Forces - a three-star general or admiral. Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation at Kolsås outside Oslo is responsible for engineering, procurement, investment, supply, information and it is also responsible for maintenance, repair and storage of material. Norway employs a form of mandatory military service for men and women. While 63,841 men and women were called in for the examination of persons liable for service in 2012,9265 were conscripted. In 2015 conscription was extended to women making Norway the first NATO member, there is a right of conscientious objection. The press statements read, that serves as a means to “fight climate change”

66.
Polish Armed Forces
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Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland are the national armed forces of the Republic of Poland. The name has been used since the early 19th century, from 2002 until 2014, Polish military forces were part of the Coalition Forces that participated in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan led by NATO. Polands contribution to ISAF was the countrys largest, since its entrance into NATO, Polish forces also took part in the Iraq War. From 2003 to 2008, Polish military forces commanded the Multinational Division located in the South-Central Zone of Iraq, the division was made up of troops from 23 nations and totaled as many as 8,500 soldiers. It is regarded as one of the most professional military in Europe, the List of Polish wars chronicles Polish military involvements since the year 972. The present armed forces trace their roots to the early 20th century, large numbers of Poles also served in the armies of the partitioning powers, Russian Empire, Austria-Hungary and Germany. However, these powers took care to spread Polish soldiers all over their armies, during World War I, the Polish Legions were set up in Galicia, the southern part of Poland under Austrian occupation. They were both disbanded after the Central Powers failed to provide guarantees of Polish independence after the war. General Józef Haller, the commander of the Second Brigade of the Polish Legion, switched sides in late 1917, and via Murmansk took part of his troops to France and it was joined by several thousand Polish volunteers from the United States. It fought on the French front in 1917 and 1918, the Polish Army was recreated in 1918 from elements of the three separate Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Prussian armies, and armed with equipment left following World War I. The force expanded during the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1922 to nearly 800,000 men, the Polish Armed Forces in the West comprised army, navy, and air force units, and were loyal to the Polish government-in-exile. Army formations and units included the Polish Army in France, the Polish I Corps in the West, the Polish II Corps, and the rump Command in the Middle East that was briefly designated the III Corps. The Polish Air Force fought in the Battle of France as one squadron, several small units detached to French squadrons. These vessels included the cruisers ORP Dragon and Conrad, seven destroyers, what later became the communist LWP was formed during the Second World War as the Polish 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division, also unofficially known as the Berling Army. The majority of officers were Polish, the first Polish force formed in the USSR, the Anders Army, had by that time moved to Iran. Polish forces soon grew beyond the 1st Division into two major commands—the First Polish Army and the Polish Second Army, the Polish First Army participated in the Vistula–Oder Offensive and the Battle of Kolberg before participating in its final offensive with the Battle of Berlin. The Polish Second Army served under command of the Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front in 1945, in the east these two armies were supported at times by Polish air units, part of the Air Force of the Polish Army. The communist-aligned Polish military formation was the Peoples Army of Poland, formed in the Soviet Union and it became the core of the armed forces of post-war Poland

67.
Romanian Armed Forces
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The Land Forces, Air Force and Naval Forces of Romania are collectively known as the Romanian Armed Forces. The current Commander-in-chief is General Nicolae Ionel Ciuca who is managed by the Minister of National Defence while the president is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces during wartime. 84,000 men and women comprise the Armed Forces,15,000 of them being military personnel. Out of the 90,000 military and civilian personnel,60,000 are the troops while 30,000 comprise the active territorial reserves. As of 2010, the Land Forces have a strength of 43,000, the Air Force 9,700, the Naval Forces 7,150. As per the 2011 White Paper, these forces are to be gradually decreased over the 2011–2014 period to reach a total of about 65,000 active troops and active reserves. Total defence spending currently accounts for 1. 33% of total national GDP, the Land Forces have overhauled their equipment in recent years, and are today a modern army with multiple NATO capabilities. They are participating in a mission in Afghanistan, together with the other NATO countries. The Land Forces are at present planning on replacing the TAB APC vehicles with new armored personnel carriers produced in conjunction with the Germany company Rheinmetall. The Air Force currently operates modernized Soviet MiG-21 LanceR fighters, which are due to be replaced by modernized ex-Portuguese F-16 fighters starting with 2016. In the first stage a first squadron of 12 fighter aircraft will be acquired, the Air Force has also received 7 new C-27J Spartan tactical airlift aircraft, in order to replace the bulk of the old transport force. Two modernized ex-Royal Navy Type 22 frigates were acquired by the Naval Forces in 2004, three domestically-produced IAR330 Puma NAVAL helicopters were also ordered by the Naval Forces, and were commissioned in late 2008. As a consequence, extensive preparations were made to abolish conscription by 2007, the new armed forces include 90,000 men and women, of whom about 75,000 are military personnel. 60,000 of the 90,000 are active forces,30,000 comprise the territorial forces, the Romanian Military will essentially undergo a three-stage restructuring. As of 2007, the first short-term stage has been completed,2015 marks the end of the second stage when the armed forces will reach a superior compatibility with NATO forces. In 2025, the stage is to be completed. The stages aim at modernising the structure of the forces, reducing the personnel as well as acquiring newer. Romanian troops participated in the occupation of Iraq, reaching a peak of 730 soldiers before being drawn down to 350 soldiers

68.
Slovak Armed Forces
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The Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic number 15,996 uniformed personnel and 3,761 civilians. Slovakia joined NATO on 29 March 2004, from 2006 the army transformed into a fully professional organization and compulsory military service was abolished. Ground forces - are made up of two mechanized infantry brigades and a Combat Support Brigade. Air and air defence forces - comprising one wing of fighters, one wing of utility helicopters, air defence systems SA-6 Gainful -5 batteries SA-10 Grumble -1 battery SA-18 Grouse -72 pcs The 5th Special Forces Regiment is Slovakias counter-terrorism and special operations unit. The unit is attached to the armed forces general staff. Slovakia has 169 military personnel deployed in Cyprus for UNFICYP United Nations led peace support operations, Slovakia committed to increase the number of its troops in Afghanistan to around 45 men by the end of 2016. Slovakia has 41 troops deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina for EUFOR Althea, Slovak troops were withdrawn from Kosovo because the Slovak Armed Forces set its priority to focus mainly on an Afghanistan NATO led mission. Since the independence of Slovakia in 1993, there have been 59 uniformed personnel deaths in the line of service to the United Nations, official homepage of the Ministry of Defence Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic Picture gallery Slovak military photos

69.
Slovenian Armed Forces
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The Slovenian Armed Forces or Slovenian Army are the armed forces of Slovenia. Since 2003, it is organized as a professional standing army. The military history of Slovenia spans less than a hundred years, rudolf Maister, a Slovene major of the former Austro-Hungarian Army, occupied the town of Maribor in November 1918 and claimed it to the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. After a short fight with German Austrian provisional units, the current border was established and it was of negligible importance prior to 1990, with antiquated weapons and few members. The Slovenian Armed Forces were formally established in 1993 as a reorganization of the Slovenia Territorial Defence, after 1993, the Slovenian Armed Forces had relied on mandatory military service, with conscripts receiving 6–7 months of training. In 2003, the Slovenian Government abolished conscription and as of July 2004, currently there are approximately 7,300 active troops and approximately 1,500 in reserve, reduced from 55,000 personnel during conscription. A major reorganization of the Slovenian Armed Forces is currently underway with a making them more effective. More than half of all commands have been disbanded which has made commanding the subordinated units easier and faster, soldiers are to be located nearer to their homes in order to minimize travel costs. Reorganization also transformed 72nd Brigade from a unit to a combat unit. Both brigades were added elements, such as Air Defense, Artillery, Intelligence. The operational units now consist of Special Operations Unit, Naval Division, as part of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slovenia was never a member of the Warsaw Pact. Today, the foreign policy priority of NATO membership drives Slovenias defense reorganization, active in the SFOR deployment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia is also a charter member of Partnership for Peace and a regular participant in PfP exercises. Slovenia formally joined NATO in March 2004, implementation of interoperability objectives as determined by the Planning and Review Process and the Individual Partnership Program as part of Slovenias PfP participation proceeds. Slovenias elite units already train with and are integrated into international units including NATO members—for example as part of SFOR and its elite mountain troops will be assigned to the Multinational Land Force peacekeeping battalion with Italy, Hungary, and Croatia. Slovenian soldiers are a part of international forces serving in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Chad and they have also served in Cyprus and the Golan Heights as a part of UNFICYP and UNDOF respectively. Slovenia hosts Multinational Centre of Excellence for Mountain Warfare, one of NATO Centres of Excellence, located in Bohinjska Bela and it is responsible for training individuals and units for operation in the mountains and other terrains difficult to pass. The Slovenian Armed Forces are organized as single-branch armed forces with the army as their primary component, the airports official name is Cerklje ob Krki Airbase. The others that are partially military are, Ljubljana Airbase shares the airport with Ljubljana International Airport, one helicopter Bell 412 is stationed there for mountain rescue

70.
Turkish Armed Forces
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The Turkish Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. They consist of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, in wartime, they are subordinate to the Army and Navy. The President of Turkey is the overall head. The current Chief of the General staff is General Hulusi Akar, the Chief of the General Staff is the Commander of the Armed Forces. In wartime, he acts as the Commander in Chief on behalf of the President of Turkey, furthermore, the General Staff coordinates the military relations of the TAF with NATO member states and other friendly nations. The modern history of the army began with its formation after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish military perceived itself as the guardian of Kemalist ideology, the official state ideology, especially of the secular aspects of Kemalism. After becoming a member of NATO on 18 February 1952, Turkey initiated a comprehensive program for its armed forces. The Turkish Army sent troops to fight in Korea, where they played pivotal roles at some points, towards the end of the 1980s, a second restructuring process was initiated. The Turkish Armed Forces participate in European Union battlegroups under the control of the European Council, the TAF also contributes operational staff to the Eurocorps multinational army corps initiative of the EU and NATO. The Turkish Armed Forces collectively rank as the second largest standing military force in NATO, Armed Forces, with an estimated strength in 2015 of 639,551 military, civilian and paramilitary personnel. Turkey is one of five NATO member states which are part of the sharing policy of the alliance, together with Belgium, Germany, Italy. After the end of World War I, many Ottoman military personnel escaped from Rumelia to Anatolia in order to part in the national movement. Turkey won the War of Independence in 1922, Turkey remained neutral until the final stages of World War II. In the initial stage of World War II, Turkey signed a treaty of assistance with Great Britain. But after the fall of France, the Turkish government tried to maintain a distance with both the Allies and the Axis. After the German-Soviet War broke out, the Turkish government sent a delegation of observers under Lieutenant General Ali Fuat Erden to the German Eastern Front. Turkey participated in the Korean War as a state of the United Nations and sent the Turkish Brigade to South Korea. On 18 February 1952, Turkey became a member of NATO, the Korean government donated a war memorial for the Turkish soldiers who fought and died in Korea

71.
British Armed Forces
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They also promote Britains wider interests, support international peacekeeping efforts, and provide humanitarian aid. Repeatedly emerging victorious from conflicts has allowed Britain to establish itself as one of the leading military. The Commander-in-chief of the British Armed Forces is the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, the UK Parliament approves the continued existence of the armed forces by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years, as required by the Bill of Rights 1689. The armed forces are managed by the Defence Council of the Ministry of Defence, with the Acts of Union 1707, the armed forces of England and Scotland were merged into the armed forces of the Kingdom of Great Britain. Britain feared that Russian expansionism in the region would eventually threaten the Empire in India and this ultimately led to British involvement in the Crimean War against the Russian Empire. The beginning of the twentieth century served to reduce tensions between Britain and the Russian Empire, partly due to the emergence of a unified German Empire. Allied victory resulted in the defeat of the Central Powers, the end of the German Empire, the Treaty of Versailles, once again tensions accumulated in European relations, and following Germanys invasion of Poland in September 1939, the Second World War began. The conflict was the most widespread in British history, with British Empire and Commonwealth troops fighting in campaigns from Europe and North Africa, to the Middle East, approximately 390,000 British Empire and Commonwealth troops lost their lives. Allied victory resulted in the defeat of the Axis powers and the establishment of the United Nations, reflecting Britains new role in the world and the escalation of the Cold War, the country became a founding member of the NATO military alliance in 1949. By the mid-1970s, the forces had reconfigured to focus on the responsibilities allocated to them by NATO. While NATO obligations took increased prominence, Britain nonetheless found itself engaged in a number of low-intensity conflicts, however the Dhofar Rebellion and The Troubles emerged as the primary operational concerns of the armed forces. Perhaps the most important conflict during the Cold War, at least in the context of British defence policy, was the Falklands War. Since the end of the Cold War, an international role for the armed forces has been pursued, with re-structuring to deliver a greater focus on expeditionary warfare. In addition to the campaign, the British Army has trained and supplied allies on the ground. Figures released by the Ministry of Defence on 31 March 2016 show that 7,185 British Armed Forces personnel have lost their lives in medal earning theatres since the end of the Second World War. As Sovereign and head of state, Queen Elizabeth II is Head of the Armed Forces, the Queen, however, remains the ultimate authority of the military, with officers and personnel swearing allegiance to the monarch. It has been claimed that this includes the power to prevent unconstitutional use of the armed forces, responsibility for the management of the forces is delegated to a number of committees, the Defence Council, Chiefs of Staff Committee, Defence Management Board and three single-service boards. The Defence Council, composed of representatives of the services

British Armed Forces
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The Vulcan Bomber was the backbone of the United Kingdom’s airborne nuclear deterrent during much of the Cold War.
British Armed Forces
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Her Majesty's Armed Forces
British Armed Forces
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David Cameron greets Nicolas Sarkozy at Lancaster House, London, before signing the Defence and Security Co-operation Treaty.
British Armed Forces
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Welsh Guards Trooping the Colour 2007

72.
United States Armed Forces
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The United States Armed Forces are the federal armed forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, from the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of unity and identity was forged as a result of victory in the First Barbary War. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and it played an important role in the American Civil War, where leading generals on both sides were picked from members of the United States military. Not until the outbreak of World War II did a standing army become officially established. The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the Cold Wars onset, the U. S. military is one of the largest militaries in terms of number of personnel. It draws its personnel from a pool of paid volunteers. As of 2016, the United States spends about $580.3 billion annually to fund its military forces, put together, the United States constitutes roughly 40 percent of the worlds military expenditures. For the period 2010–14, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that the United States was the worlds largest exporter of major arms, the United States was also the worlds eighth largest importer of major weapons for the same period. The history of the U. S. military dates to 1775 and these forces demobilized in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence. All three services trace their origins to the founding of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, the United States President is the U. S. militarys commander-in-chief. Rising tensions at various times with Britain and France and the ensuing Quasi-War and War of 1812 quickened the development of the U. S. Navy, the reserve branches formed a military strategic reserve during the Cold War, to be called into service in case of war. Time magazines Mark Thompson has suggested that with the War on Terror, Command over the armed forces is established in the United States Constitution. The sole power of command is vested in the President by Article II as Commander-in-Chief, the Constitution also allows for the creation of executive Departments headed principal officers whose opinion the President can require. This allowance in the Constitution formed the basis for creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 by the National Security Act, the Defense Department is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is a civilian and member of the Cabinet. The Defense Secretary is second in the chain of command, just below the President. Together, the President and the Secretary of Defense comprise the National Command Authority, to coordinate military strategy with political affairs, the President has a National Security Council headed by the National Security Advisor. The collective body has only power to the President

73.
Foreign relations of NATO
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NATO maintains foreign relations with many non-member countries across the globe. NATO runs a number of programs which provide a framework for the partnerships between itself and these nations, typically based on that countrys location. These include the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and the Partnership for Peace, five EU member states, all who have declared their non-alignment with military alliances, are not NATO members, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Malta, and Sweden. Switzerland, which is surrounded by the EU, has maintained their neutrality by staying out of the bloc. All these countries, however, have joined the Partnership for Peace programme, armenia has maintained positive relations with NATO members and has signed up for the Partnership for Peace programme and the Individual Partnership Action Plan. According to a NATO diplomatic source in August 2009 some key officials at NATO headquarters in Brussels were pushing hard for engaging Azerbaijan on the membership question. Turkey, Romania, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom, while President Ilham Aliyev has generally supported non-belligerency since his rise to power in 2003, Azerbaijan has hosted NATO military exercises and high-profile meetings in 2009. The unresolved conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh would present a major roadblock to membership, Azerbaijan made its policy of not being aligned with a geopolitical/military structure official when it became a full member of the Non-Aligned Movement in 2011. Cyprus is the only EU member state that is neither a NATO member state nor a member of the PfP program, turkey, a full member of NATO, is likely to veto any attempt by Cyprus to engage with NATO until the dispute is resolved. The winner of Cyprus presidential election in February 2013, Nicos Anastasiades, has stated that he intends to apply for membership in the PfP program soon after taking over. Finland participates in nearly all sub-areas of the Partnership for Peace programme, however, a 2005 poll indicated that the public was strongly against NATO membership. The possibility of Finlands membership in NATO was one of the most important issues debated in relation to the Finnish presidential election of 2006, the main opposition candidate in the 2006 election, Sauli Niinistö of the National Coalition Party, supported Finland joining a more European NATO. Fellow right-winger Henrik Lax of the Swedish Peoples Party likewise supported the concept, on the other side, president Tarja Halonen of the Social Democratic Party opposed changing the status quo, as did most other candidates in the election. Her victory and re-election to the post of president has put the issue of a NATO membership for Finland on hold for at least the duration of her term. Currently no political party explicitly supports NATO membership, another ex-president, Mauno Koivisto, opposes the idea, arguing that NATO membership would ruin Finlands relations with Russia. As such, Finland participated in the 2015 NATO-led Arctic Challenge Exercise, irish government policy for the deployment of troops to NATO-led missions requires that the missions be mandated by the United Nations, cabinet-backed and approved by Dáil Éireann. This is known as Irelands triple lock, public opinion in Ireland continues to favour a policy of neutrality in armed conflicts, and currently no major political party fully supports ascension into NATO. There has been, and continues to be, a number of politicians who support Ireland joining NATO, mainly within the centre-right Fine Gael party and it is widely understood that a referendum would have to be held before any changes could be made to neutrality or to joining NATO

74.
Atlantic Treaty Association
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The Atlantic Treaty Association is an umbrella organization which acts as a network facilitator in the Euro-Atlantic and beyond. ATA is, however, an independent organization separate from NATO, ATA was created on 18 June 1954. Since the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, in 1992 the ATA Constitution was amended to accommodate associate members and observers from non-NATO countries. Following the ascension of the new NATO countries in 1999 and 2004, ATA membership expanded considerably, and naturally its security focus has shifted south and eastward. The Atlantic Treaty Association seeks, through discussion and political channels, to support the values set forth in the North Atlantic Treaty, Freedom, Liberty, Peace, Security, and the Rule of law. As such, ATA acts as a forum for debate in which member associations can realize common interests, the youth branch of the ATA, the Youth Atlantic Treaty Association was created in 1996. ATA is fully dedicated to engaging the youth of the Euro-Atlantic through close cooperation with its youth division, the Atlantic Treaty Association firmly believes in the strength of the transatlantic relationship – one which is fundamental to the stability of the international system in the 21st century. As such, ATA remains instrumental in bridging values from both sides of the Atlantic in its effort to underpin the broader goals of the NATO Alliance, ATA is composed of three main bodies, the Assembly, the Bureau, and the Council. The Assembly is the top decision-making body of the ATA and is composed of delegates from Member, with the exception of Observer Members, each delegate has one vote and resolutions are passed by a simple majority. The Bureau includes the president, vice presidents, secretary general, treasurer, YATA president, Members of the Bureau assist in carrying out the decisions of the Council and the Assembly and aid in policy matters. The Council comprises Bureau members plus up to three delegates from each of the ATA Member, Associate Member and Observer Member associations, ATA allows the Council to take action on its behalf, with the recommendation of the Bureau and the approval of the Assembly. The Council holds two meetings a year, once at NATO Headquarters and once in a host country, lamers MdB 2015- Fabrizio Luciolli Official website for ATA Official website for YATA

Atlantic Treaty Association
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Presidents [edit]

75.
Mediterranean Dialogue
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The Mediterranean Dialogue, first launched in 1994, is a forum of cooperation between NATO and seven countries of the Mediterranean. Its stated aim is to good relations and better mutual understanding and confidence throughout the region, promoting regional security and stability and explaining NATOs policies. The Dialogue reflects NATOs view that security in Europe is tied to the security and stability in the Mediterranean and it also reinforces and complements the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europes Mediterranean Initiative. The Mediterranean Dialogue initially started with five countries but has added two more over time, the ICP covers many areas of common interest, such as the fight against terrorism and joint military exercises in the Mediterranean Sea. More ICP agreements were signed with Egypt and Jordan, and NATO expects further agreements to be signed with additional Mediterranean Dialogue member states in the future, istanbul Cooperation Initiative North Atlantic Council Partnership for Peace Union for the Mediterranean Mediterranean Dialogue website

Mediterranean Dialogue
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NATO member states

76.
Partnership for Peace
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The Partnership for Peace is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization program aimed at creating trust between NATO and other states in Europe and the former Soviet Union,22 states are members. On April 26,1995 Malta became a member of PfP, on March 20,2008 Malta decided to reactivate their PfP membership, this was accepted by NATO at the summit in Bucharest on April 3,2008. During the NATO summit in Riga on November 29,2006, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia were invited to join PfP, Cyprus is the only European Union member state that is neither a NATO member state nor a member of the PfP program. Turkey, a member of NATO, is likely to veto any attempt by Cyprus to engage with NATO until the dispute is resolved. Christofias successor, Nicos Anastasiades, has publicly supported PfP membership for Cyprus, kosovo has described PfP membership as a strategic objective of the government. Kosovo submitted an application to join the PfP program in July 2012, however, four NATO member states, Greece, Romania, Spain and Slovakia, do not recognize Kosovos independence and have threatened to block their participation in the program. To be eligible to join, the Kosovan Armed Forces must be established

Partnership for Peace
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European NATO members (1994)
Partnership for Peace
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Partnership for Peace stamp from Moldova

77.
Virtual International Authority File
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The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library, the National Library of France joined the project on October 5,2007. The project transitions to a service of the OCLC on April 4,2012, the aim is to link the national authority files to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together, a VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary see and see also records from the original records, and refers to the original authority records. The data are available online and are available for research and data exchange. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting protocol, the file numbers are also being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata. VIAFs clustering algorithm is run every month, as more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records

Virtual International Authority File
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Screenshot 2012

78.
Integrated Authority File
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The Integrated Authority File or GND is an international authority file for the organisation of personal names, subject headings and corporate bodies from catalogues. It is used mainly for documentation in libraries and increasingly also by archives, the GND is managed by the German National Library in cooperation with various regional library networks in German-speaking Europe and other partners. The GND falls under the Creative Commons Zero license, the GND specification provides a hierarchy of high-level entities and sub-classes, useful in library classification, and an approach to unambiguous identification of single elements. It also comprises an ontology intended for knowledge representation in the semantic web, available in the RDF format